Read the new issue here: imafungus.pensoft.net/issue/5041/

Challenge accepted

The only good morphological match seems to be Didymium macquariense, but this species was described (and is still known) from one locality, subantarctic Macquarie Island. A bit far from Adygea. Well, maybe somebody will sequence both one day, and we will know.

But then I saw spores! Instead of the usual pale, warted spores, here spores were dark, large, with amazing crests and ridges on the surface. What that could be?

Cześć!

Herbarium, later collected by Kastanje, constitutes the main part of the current myxomycete collection at TAAM. This is what I call a healthy tradition.
Photos: Prof. G. W. Martin; Diachea obovata (=Craterium obovatum) from Martin's herbarium; illustration of the same species from "The Myxomycetes".

How did Martin's herbarium end up in Tartu?
Apparently, specimens were sent in the '90s from the US at the request of the Estonian professor Erast Parmasto, who maintained many international connections. They were sent to help another mycologist, Veiko Kastanje (a student then), learn to ID myxos.

G. W. Martin is a classic figure in 20th-century myxomycete science, authoring >100 names of myxos and fungi, and the essential books "The Myxomycetes", "The Genera of Myxomycetes". He worked mostly at the University of Iowa, remained an active researcher until advanced age, and passed away in 1971.