Phylum Arthropoda
Class Malacostracan
Order Decapoda
Morphology
Hard exoskeleton over front half that emerges from the abandoned shell they choose to inhabit. The abdomen is soft and not covered by an exoskeleton, which is why they seek protection in external shells. They have 5 pairs of legs, antennae, and apposition eyes.
Fun Fact
Hermit crabs use a variety of shells to settle in. The sized range from small mud snail shells to large whelks and moon snails.
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Order: Semaeostomeae
Key morphological characteristic: Pink Meanie are light pink all over, and have a large bell that baby fish for shelter.
Fun fact: The Pink Meanie was classified as a new species in 2011.
1) Arbacia punctulata
2) Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Echinoidea
Order: Arbacioida
3) the flat face and purle-brown spines are key morphological features
4) Sea urchins are used as model organisms for developmental biologists
Found dead. Removed from public view by throwing into woods.
Okay I went out and got another red capped Russula growing near the spot I got one two days ago. I’m hoping it’s the same species.
I wanted a fresh one to taste and felt very brave today. I didn’t want to taste the cap bc I didn’t want to damage the chance of a perfect pretty spore print.
So I took a nibble of the stipe. I chewed it and it taste very much the way it smelled (like nothing),, until the tip of my tongue started burning. I found a spicy mushroom!
I’m not quite sure of my ability to separate “painfully acrid” and “very spicy” when it comes to others description of the taste.
Anyways, I spit it out and rinsed my mouth and now we’re just waiting on the spore print!
The inside of the stem was solid but spongey like angel food cake
Ochre spore print
largest I’ve found! 9cm tall and cap was 8.25cm across
There’s tons of these in the area. I’d love to ID to species based on region and the brightly colored ochre spore print
Spongey stem
Cap sticky when wet, and a little velvety when dry
The red cuticle peels back a cm or two easily but stops there
I don't want it to be JADRR
photo Not in situ! This was found growing directly out of a fallen log.
all on the same tree. i suspect all the same species but i don’t know. if you think they’re different i’ll reupload them separately
too many larvae of some sort hiding in the pores for me to take home and do a spore print with
Top part of stem was reticulate and the flesh didn’t stain which are two distinctive features of the species (Kuo).
So strongly associated with pines (Kuo), there was a pine cone attached to the mycelium (see photo).
T. peralbidus is more hardwood associated (Kuo) and lacks stalk reticulation (BB&H)
and T. intermedius is more oak associated (Kuo) and has a brownish stem and papery cap and is found more in the Appalachians (Kuo)
Boletus peralbidus is a synonym (BB&H)
Please someone help me figure out what direction to look, lol! The cap looks a lot like Tricholomopsis formosa which was growing on the same stump, but the gills are so dramatic to the point where I’m not even sure if they’re gills or pores.
I did not cut it open to see flesh color or get a spore print because I wasn’t sure how to get a print from this.
all advice on how to ID welcome!
Beads of amber liquid appeared on cap and gills
Couldn’t get a spore print
(Writing down all my observations and thoughts to reference next time I find a similar mushroom)
Stained dark blue the moment the stipe is removed from the cap which means it can’t be Baorangia bicolor, which bruises slowly
Scent indeterminate (Curry= Boletus sensibilis, mild/citrusy= Pulchroboletus rubrictrinus)
spore print was green (grayish olive= B. sensibilis, olive brown= P. rubrictrinus)
did not taste (mild/acidic = P. rubrictrinus)
ETA
KOH stained cap yellow, pores dark brownish black
Spore print was green-blue so I think the paper was stained blue from the mushroom
Pores seem to turn brown as they age
Cap flesh slow to bruise blue
Also considering Boletus speciosus
Found solitary in wood chips.
very wet/slimy upon cutting cap from stipe (which is why I considered Suillus spp.)
fine hairs on cap
inside of stipe had light whitish flesh
spore print: white
practicing spore prints for future mushroom IDs
very flaky scales covering them. spores look dark brown. two mature bodies found ten feet apart