Bridal Veil Stinkhorn

Description:

Bridal veil stinkhorns are fungi that grow in rainforest leaf litter. They get their name from the veil formation that hangs down from the cap as well as their very nasty decaying meat smell! Their stinky smell is hard to miss and is used to attract carrion eating flies which distribute their spores. These stinkhorns emerge from the leaf litter at night and develop quickly - if you had patience you could literally pull up a chair and watch. You just need to be prepared to spend the night in the middle of the rainforest with a flashlight and some bug spray!

Habitat:

Lowland Amazon Rainforest. This one was spotted on the trail near Ceiba Tops lodge on the way to the Ceiba tree.

Notes:

There’s a neat time-lapse sequence from BBC’s Planet Earth series showing various tropical fungi growing. Video of the bridal veil stinkhorn starts around 00:09 second in! It's pretty cool - check it out! Here's the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Phallus...