The comments on Friday’s puzzle have certainly been imaginative! (Tribbles indeed!) But this weekend nature cooperated to give me some more information.
My little fungus family expanded over the weekend. As this photo shows, we definitely have a mushroom-type fungus:
Looking at a young member, you can see what look like stalked spores emerging from the gills:
And the edges of the mushroom curl upwards as the spore mass grows
until we end up with the black furry ball shown on Friday:
So the discussion continues: What the heck is this? Is it one species, or is there another species that’s emerging from the gills of the first?
… somewhat easier now with the additional info & pics. I’m not a fungi expert but I’d guess this is a parasitic mold that grows on mushrooms. Spinellus fusiger, for example.
Excellent find, Johannes! And here’s a highly amusing posting from expert Tom Volk at University of Wisconsin at La Crosse: http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/mar2004.html. Scroll down to the bottom to see Tom’s take on Spinellus fusiger.
I’ve been dying to find out what the heck this is (at first I thought “should Linda set out some traps or something??”)
My UW mycology expert confirmed that this is likely a Spinellus species, aptly dubbed pin molds.