Entomopathogen on an ant. Such an amazing find in an urban park.

This ant was found inside of a woody gall on a bud oak stem, produced by the wasp Disholcaspis quercusmamma. The ant must have climbed into the empty gall and then succumbed to the fungus.

I’m wondering if this fungus is also somehow involved in the gall/wasp relationship?

@damontighe same one from a few years back you commented on.

Collected from a small sand dune remnant on the south shore of Lake Superior.

These grow gregariously with the dune grasses from the sand.
No noticeable odor.

Single fruiting body on ground under back deck.

Pileus light yellow (the light yellow does not show well in the images) with a light brown central disk. Cap 3 cm diam, Stipe 4.7 x 0.2 cm with a 0.7 cm bulbous base. Basidiospores (5) 6-7 x 4 (4.5) microm.

What is this?

Growing singularly near one another, in landscaped grass. No nearby trees. Largest cap 2.5inches in diameter.

Cap velvety, tacky, with a clear funnel shape with a depressed center.

Gills moderately decurrent. Gills extremely brittle, separating easily as a layer.

Flesh stringy, very similar to Cantharellus flesh. It pulls apart like chicken.

Basal mycelium white but sparse. Very strong farinaceous odor. Taste of watermelon rind, similar to the odor.

Spore print white.

Added photos of basal mycelium and the location + surrounding trees

I incubated twice-boiled tea bags and various herbs from the woods that were used for tea. Anaerobically sealed for ~120 days, and discovered these coprinoid-looking mushrooms growing from sclerotia. Fugaceous annulus with faint ring remnants evident on stipe. Unknown material on pellis. It looked like a bunch of circles or orbs. Spores oval, brown in water with one drop directly in the center of each. They appear to have a small empty vacuole running almost the full length of the spore on one side. Sclerotium a black, hardened mass made of unknown fungal material.

under 2cm tall. Anna Gerenday was shown this and scoped it, specifically the pileipellis. To the best of my memory (there was a lot of whiskey in the ID room at this point), it was unremarkable, and we settled on it being a Flammulaster. I very much wish I had saved this and could revisit it with less whiskey.

Substrate: mossy soil

Habitat: Undisturbed old growth hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) & yellow birch (Betula alleghanienesis) forest

Ecoregion: Western Great Lakes Forests (NA0416)

Collectors: P. Kennedy, L. Mielke, D. Newman & T. Osmundson

Collected during the 2017 North American Mycological Association (NAMA) Northwoods Foray, located in Cable, Wisconsin.

pulled this off the ID table. it had no tag, but looked special. no idea if it was saved.

Spores:

(19.2) 22.8 – 26.7 (30.1) × (4) 4.2 – 5.3 (6) µm

Q = (3.6) 4.8 – 6.1 (6.6) ; N = 16

Me = 24.6 × 4.8 µm ; Qe = 5.2

24.33 4.82

24.42 4.86

25.40 4.78

24.04 4.63

23.09 4.48

22.82 4.03

25.20 5.08

27.92 4.22

24.05 4.63

22.27 4.66

26.65 5.26

19.19 5.40

24.82 4.06

23.48 5.97

26.02 4.99

30.15 4.80

Substrate: soil

Habitat: ?

Ecoregion: Western Great Lakes Forests (NA0416)

Collector: ?

Collected during the 2017 North American Mycological Association (NAMA) Northwoods Foray, located in Cable, Wisconsin.

Resupinate in conifer, inside the hollowed out trunk and in cracks on the decorticated exterior. Squishy but not fragile, margin white, pore surface pinkish purple, pores angular, did not measure them. Maybe Skeletocutis, Ceriporiopsis, or just an odd Coniferiporia sulphurescens.

Grew singularly in lawn.

Cap is white, convex, roughly 2-1/2" in diameter, and has powdery scales.

Gills were covered in powdery partial vail when found. Gills are white, close, and possibly free.

Stem is white, 4-1/2" long, 1/2" diameter near top and 1" near bottom, covered in powdery scales, has some give to it, and is solid.

Spore print is white

Smells like urine.

Looks very similar to Amanita chlorinosma but that species is mycorrhizal and found in forests.

Growing from a (possibly recently) downed branch found beneath a canopy of mostly oak and ash trees. Some maple and an elm nearby, a blue spruce fairly distant.

I am unwilling to put a specific species forward as an identification, but just going by appearance, some Common Fiber Vase (Thelephora terrestris) look similar. Certain individuals pictured as Benzoin Bracket (Ischnoderma benzoinum) do as well.