Deconica

Description:

Tiny tiny mushroom that probably grew in the last week due to some recent rains. I did not see any dried or dead examples. Strophariaceae family.

Habitat:

Growing on partially degraded dung from some type of Antelope. (Hyena Pool, Mlawula Nature reserve)

Notes:

I was very happy to find this fungi, but I had a hard time to figure out what it was growing on. At my first investigation, I thought that it was some kind of lichen. But later on I found the same fungi on an other place and after an other investigation I realized it was growing on feces... Cool and eeeuuu! haha! I did not know that was possible, and I thought fungi-growth process was too slow to grow on feces... I was proved wrong, and I like it :) Deconica is a genus of mushrooms in the family Strophariaceae. It was formerly considered synonymous with Psilocybe until molecular studies showed that genus to be polyphyletic, made of two major clades: one containing bluing, hallucinogenic species, the other non-bluing and non-hallucinogenic species. This belongs to the non-hallucinogenic species.