A little soapbox for me to stand on and rant from.
Well they’re back., those supposed slime moulds that have previously turned up on my lawn. This year they seem a bit more widespread. They are just so weird I had to take some more pictures:
For reference they are about 7cm to 15cm in diameter. I still not convinced that they slime moulds as they don’t appear to match any picture of a slime mould that I have found on the web…
On Friday, whilst at my parent-in-laws, we chased a large bug out the lounge. After a couple of minutes it came back in and this time when we helped it out it dropped its payload (a giant spider) and revealed itself to be a wasp and disappeared out the window.
I didn’t think to much of it until I saw another wasp this morning hanging around the surround-sound speaker next to the TV. Guess what I found? Yep the wasp had been creating nests in the back of the speakers in the holes where the screws go. In fact there were two wasps hard at work.
They are both squished now but at least 4 holes have been sealed up. I’m not sure how we are going to dig out the nests.
Here are some pics:
For those of you who don’t know, wasps paralyze spiders, stick them in holes and then lay their eggs into the spiders. The young then hatch and feed on the spiders. Lovely…
Well I had any number of “useful” suggestions as to what the heck is growing on my lawn including: star jelly, my growing clone (on my front lawn??) and to “dry it, smoke it and if nothing happens send an email to MAf biosecurity”.
I decided to take up the last suggestion (the emailing part, not the drying and smoking part) and I received this slightly comforting reply:
Yes it is a type of fungus called a slime mould. It will disappear in a few days. They grow in very moist conditions. They are not harmful and not uncommon.<br />
Regards Olwyn Green<br />
Entomology Lab.<br />
MAF Biosecurity NZ
Not sure why the Entomology lab has anything to do with fungus but hey I now know what the blobs are.
Turns out slime molds are rather interesting things:
They are a biological and taxonomic enigma because they are neither typical fungi nor typical protozoa. During one of their growth stages, they are protozoa-like because they lack cell walls, have amoeboid movement (WTF?), and ingest particulate nutrients. During their propagative stage they form fruiting bodies and sporangia, which bear walled spores like typical fungi.
There are over 500 species and they appear in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes. To be honest I didn’t see any pictures that looked like my slime, the closest that I found was the aptly named Dog Vomit slime mould. Maybe I should give my mould a name, something like pocus stickus blobus.
What was rather disturbing were the number of odd experiments that people have used slime mould in, such as Slime mould solves maze and Robot piloted by a slime mould, which appear to take advantage of the amoeboid nature of the mould.
I for one, welcome our slime mould overlords…
Update: A gardening-type acquaintance of a friend of mine suggested that I throw lime (calcium carbonate) on the blobs to kill em. I might just give that a go.
Any Botonists, UFOlogists or Ghostbusters out there ?
I have 3 big piles of transparent goop on my lawn! They are about 15 to 20cm in diameter, are quite transparent and have been there for a couple of weeks (I’m too freaked out to touch them but I did poke one with a stick).
I’m hoping (really hoping) that they are just some sap fallen from the tree that sits in the center of the lawn.
Anyone have any ideas ?
Blob Number 1
Blob Number 2
Blob Number 3
_[Update] Apparently they are slime mould…._