Nivicolous myxomycetes from alpine areas of south-eastern Australia
Steven L. Stephenson A B and John D. L. Shadwick AA Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
B Corresponding author. Email: slsteph@uark.edu
Australian Journal of Botany 57(2) 116-122 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT09022
Submitted: 22 January 2009 Accepted: 26 March 2009 Published: 11 May 2009
Abstract
Nivicolous myxomycetes were collected from alpine areas of south-eastern Australia during the period of middle to late October 2004. Most collections came from the high-elevation area around Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak on the continent at 2228 m, in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, and additional collections were obtained from two areas, Mount Buller and Mount Hotham, in the Victorian Alps of northern Victoria. Approximately 300 collections were obtained during a period of 2 weeks, including species such as Diderma alpinum, Didymium dubium, Lamproderma ovoideum, Physarum albescens and P. alpinum, not previously known to occur in mainland Australia. Lamproderma maculatum and L. zonatum were collected for the first time in the southern hemisphere, and another species of Lamproderma was described as new to science in a previous paper. In contrast to most other areas of the world where nivicolous myxomycetes have been studied, species of Diderma have been represented poorly among the collections from Australia.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported in part by grants from the Australian Biological Resources Study Participatory Program and the National Science Foundation (DEB-0316284). The assistance of Ken Green with the logistics of the field work in Australia is greatly appreciated. Thanks are extended to Gabriel Moreno, who carried out the SEM studies that helped identify several of the species reported herein.
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