Honeycomb Coral Slime Mold, Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa var. porioides
(Some authorities consider it a separate speceis, Ceratiomyxa porioides)
Ceratiomyxaceae or Coral Slime Family

Fruiting bodies

Looks like balls of white fuzz on dead wood, but up close the balls are seen to be composed of tiny, translucent white tubes fused together in a honeycomb pattern.

As a slime mold this organism grows as bit of clear mucus, a large cell containing many nuclei, that crawls through leaf litter eating bacteria, spores and other minute stuff. When conditions are ripe and food is running out, it will produce the honeycomb balls, using the wood merely as a convenient stage. In good conditions it may be very common in the forested areas of Wildwood.

A closeup examination will easily identify this slime mold. It is a variety of coral slime mold (C. fruticulosa), and can be distinguished by the spore-bearing tubes fusing into honeycombed balls. In coral slime, the tubes do not fuse.

Fruiting bodies
   

 

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