Comment on Verticillium sp. (I think)
Valsa@mander.xyz 1 day ago
This looks more like Acremonium to me because the conidiogenous cells (the stalks producing droplets of spores at the tips) are very irregularly arranged. In Verticillium, the conidiogenous cells should be in whorls.
Sal@mander.xyz 1 day ago
Hey, thanks a lot! I agree with your assessment.
I spent some time looking through pictures and these Verticillium photos were the best matches I could find:
researchgate.net/…/Conidiophore-bearing-conidia-h…
…slidesharecdn.com/…/Tomato-verticillium-wilt-8-3…
ephytia.inra.fr/en/D/1297
But that Acremonium certainly looks like an even better match. And you are completely right in pointing out that the arrangement seen in my image is irregular whereas the Verticillium images show a more regular symmetric relationship between the condiogenous cells (term of the day for me).
Valsa@mander.xyz 13 hours ago
It’s easy to confuse the two because of how morphologically simple they are. Fun fact (or not depending on how much of a nerd you are), fungi that produce sticky droplets of spores on long stalks like this are often dispersed by arthropods, such as mites or springtails, which bump into the spore droplets as they walk along.
Sal@mander.xyz 7 hours ago
Certainly a fun fact 😄 Reminds me of the painful sandspurs that stick one’s feet while walking through the beach.