Common Earthball fungus Scleroderma citrinum and its parasite Pseudoboletus parasiticus

[Harold Gough]

Olympus EM-1, Kiron 105, f16, flash, hand-held. September 2016.

Crosseye stereo.

Harold

[Gerry]

interesting as always.

I can't help thinking of John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish called Wanda when I read your post titles. Don't be disturbed, it's just the way my mind works at times.

[MJ224]

Well caught...wow, such a small aperture...

[Harold Gough]

interesting as always.

I can't help thinking of John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish called Wanda when I read your post titles. Don't be disturbed, it's just the way my mind works at times.

I watched the film twice and never saw the fish!

Harold

[Harold Gough]

Well caught...wow, such a small aperture...

I tend to use f11 rather more now. F22 would be f44 on FF.

Of course you can't see anything but diffraction blur!

Harold

[Joe_T]

Does the parasite need the earthball and the earthball not need the parasite? Does the parasite harm the earthball? The earthball looks like what I would call a "puffball" when I was young and I would step on them and they would make a loud pop and a puff of spores.

[Harold Gough]

Does the parasite need the earthball and the earthball not need the parasite? Does the parasite harm the earthball? The earthball looks like what I would call a "puffball" when I was young and I would step on them and they would make a loud pop and a puff of spores.

This is the only time I have seen this, having seen hundreds of earthballs over the years so the earthball doesn't need the parasite, which will consume it. The parasite os host-specific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoboletus_parasiticus

Earthballs can be confused with puffballs by the inexperienced but have a thick "crust" around a solid centre. They are not edible like puffballs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleroderma_citrinum

Harold.