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Substrate: fallen tree fern

Habitat: Northwest Andean montane forest (NT0145)

Collectors: D. Newman & R. Vandegrift

Collection #: RLC1339

Photomicrography and molecular data forthcoming

Dr. Priscila Chaverri and her teaching assistant, Efraín Escudero-Leyva of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico, were the course’s resident ascomycetologists. As this initially resembled one of the green Hypocrea/Trichoderma spp., I passed it off to them, thinking light work would be made of the ID process. After some microscopy and reference checking, Efraín returns with the name Dactylospora, a (mostly) lichenicolous genus in the Lecanorales.

This is one of the most beautiful fungi I have ever seen, and I greatly look forward to discovering the rest of its name.

UPDATE 8/28/16: Believed to be a member of the genus Abrothallus by multiple members of the “Ascomycetes of the World” Facebook group. Name updated accordingly.

Substrate: unk. foliose lichen (Observation 249900)

Habitat: Costa Rican Páramo

Ecoregion: Talamanca Montane Forests (NA0167)

Collector(s): D. Newman

Collection #: n/a

Collected for the 2016 Organization for Tropical Studies “Fungi and Fungus-Like Organisms” Course

This may be the best set of trail cam images we've ever captured here on Salton Drive. Before the rains of Tropical Storm Beta began several days ago, I had let the bird bath dry out in an attempt to deter a flock of Common Grackles which were overwhelming our nearby bird feeders. I'm sure that was annoying to all the other resident birds and wildlife but notice how our local Gray Fox took it in stride! The fox showed up at 9 a.m. in the morning and spent nearly 20 minutes hanging out and resting on top of the bird bath. I have a long series of images of the fox occasionally getting up, circling around for a more comfortable position, snoozing, scratching an itch, etc. So cute!