Possible ID: Absidia sp., potentially Absidia corymbifera
Classification:
Phylum: Mucuromycotina
Class: Zygomycetes
Order: Mucorales
Family: Mucoraceae
Genus: Absidia
Isolation and culturing methods:
Isolated from a plate placed under an air vent in the men’s bathroom on the third floor of the Rooke Biology building for around 10 minutes on February 19th of 2018. After being stored at room temperature for a week along with a multitude of other fungi, hyphae of the sample were taken from this plate and placed onto its own malt extract agar plate. The following week, hyphae were removed from the new plate and transferred onto two separate MEA plates in order to ensure that a pure culture would be obtained.
Culture appearance and growth:
Fungal species was a white, fuzzy, cottony fungus that grew very quickly, covering the whole entire plate within two weeks. White filamentous hyphae grew on the surface of the agar as well as upwards, quickly filling up the space between the agar and the cap. Hyphae were aseptate and were relatively large, measuring around 8-22 μm wide.
Spore production:
Sporangiophores bearing sporangia were present. Sporangia contained ellipsoid to sub-allantoid sporangiospores that measured between 3-5 x 8-10 μm. These zygospores were also clear with a slightly greenish tint to them. After releasing its sporangiospores, the columellae of the sporangiophores were ellipsoid in shape, measuring around 20 x 30 μm. Likewise, these structures were also clear with a slightly greenish tint to them. Intact sporangia were similar in size and were greenish with a slight orange tint around the edge.
*Microscopic images were taken at 400x
Collector: Tommy Brouse Group: Andriana, Tommy, AJ