A new species of the genus Cribraria (Myxomycetes) with violet spores

A new species of Cribraria, described herein as С. arachnoidea, was discovered in the southern part of European Russia (the village of Kanevskaya in the Krasnodar Territory). The two specimens upon which the new species is based were obtained in moist chamber cultures, and the sporocarps developed on the dead wood of undetermined deciduous trees. The sporocarps and spores were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The main diagnostic morphological characters of Cribraria arachnoidea are the deep violet color of the small sporocarps, relatively short stalk (no more than twice the diameter of the sporotheca), small calyculus, irregular and flat nodes of the peridial net, and the angular spores. Micrographs of all relevant features are presented.