Tubifera ferruginosa Complex (Raspberry Slime)

Tubifera ferruginosa

Pseudoaethalia solitary or grouped, 3–60 mm long, 3–25 mm wide, 1– 14 mm high, rounded, short ovoid or drop-shaped, pulvinate to hemispherical, often forming moniliform complexes, yellowish brown, the surface formed by the free tips of sporothecae.

Sporothecae cylindrical, rounded in cross section, straight, directed from the base to the external surface of the fructification, 0.3–0.5 mm diam  Tips of sporothecea uniform in diameter, hemispherical to conical, with blunt, papillate or subulate apices; apices often sclerified.

 Hypothallus spongy, white when fresh, sandy-yellow when mature.

Peridium semitransparent, light brown in reflected light, moderately shining, dull or iridescent with blue, green and purple tints. External surface of the peridium verrucose. Internal surface of peridium smooth with wavy folds and extremely rarely with rings 0.4–1.1 mm diam

Columella mostly absent but may appear in some sporothecae of a fructification, never reaching the top of the sporocarp, irregularly cylindrical with a conical tip, composed of loose material and degraded spores, ochraceous brown.

Capillitium and pseudocapillitium absent.

Spores in mass rust-brown, pale brownish in transmitted light, globose, 5 – 8 um in diam, banded-reticulate.

Immature fructifications with different tints of pink and red but never bright orange, later turning dark-brown or black.

Habit, habitat and distribution: Found in temperate zones in different types of forests, on the strongly decomposed wood, covered with bryophytes.

Comments: The main diagnostic characters of T. ferruginosa are the cylindrical sporothecae with a smoothly rounded, hemispherical or conical tip, which may have blunt or subulate apices, depending In all other species of the genus, except T. dudkae, there is a clearly visible “shoulder” between the vertical wall and the flattened tip of the sporothecea

The upper parts of sporothecae in T. ferruginosa  are free, never tightly attached to each other and thus are not prismatic from mutual pressure.