Coprobia granulata

Otidea onotica - Hare's Ear

Taxonomy

Phylum: Ascomycota

Class: Pezizomycetes

Order: Pezizales

Family: Pyronemataceae

Cow-pats and bedding from cow sheds are home to a host of macro and micro fungi, but one of the early colonisers of cow-pats, moving in as soon as there is a surface crust, in Coprobia granulata (syn. Cheilymenia granulata). This tiny disc-like ascomycete fungus belongs to the order Pezizales.

Although individually tiny, it is as if these coprophilous disc fungi find safety in numbers - often they swarm over dung in their hundreds or sometimes even in their thousands.

Identification Guide

Description

Flat or shallowly concave discs, 1 to 2mm across and 0.5 to 1.5mm tall; orange; sessile; usually in groups and sometimes in huge swarms on cow-pats. The fertile (upper) surface is bright orange, smooth in the centre but granular near the rim.

Spore print

White.

Odour/taste

Reportedly not distinctive - although who would want to try tasting such offerings?

Habitat

On all kinds of herbivore dung, but especially cow-pats.

Season

May to early November.

Occurrence

Frequent.

Similar species

 Several other ascomycetous disc fungi also colonise animal dung.