Hi Martin

I fear you need to test the peridium with KOH. But the spores are quite heteropolar, unlike Hypocreales

Zotto

Hi Martin,
maybe it is the genus Pronectria.
Could you make a vertical section of the ascomatal wall?
Are there some paraphyses among the asci? I assume that the ascomatal wall does not change of color in KOH?

Regards,
Christian

Hi Zotto and Christian,

I am short with KOH. I ordered fresh supply that will reach me next week... I wonder, however, if I will be able to make a section through these tiny sandburied ascomata. :-( It will be a crunchy experience I presume...

My hope was that the ecology would possibly give a hint.

@Zotto: you are right with the heteropolar spores, but to my impression they occur among hypocreales as well. I furthermore do not exclude that these spores are submature (very few "free ones") and possibly mute to muriforme ones...

@Christian: I think I saw a single paraphysislike thing (I searched for those) that was filiform with a very slight apical thickening.

Best regards,

Martin

Here is a PDF of Pronectria terrestris, Martin, take a look at it to see if it fits with your specimen.
Christian

Hi Christian,

thank you very much for this paper! I contacted Paul Diederich and he is inclined to agree that this is Pronectria terrestris. His second collection featured spores of the size as in mine. I tried to collect some more specimen today but had no time yet to search with the dissecting microscope.

Best regards

Martin