המועדפים של graysquirrel

Originally I had no idea what this was. I thought it was a cordyceps as it has erupted from the body of a katydid or grasshopper. Someone has suggested pin mold, another has suggested slime mold.
Found positioned on a decaying log in subtropical rainforest next to a creek. We have recently had lots of rain and high humidity.

Via a cordyceps identification page on Facebook, Nigel Hywel-Jones commented "It is indeed spectacular, and rare. In 35+ years and over 20,000 collections in 12 countries I have found it once. On an adult moth. That is how rare it is. It is in the genus Sporodiniella and is a Zygomycete. It looks similar to Sporodiniella umbellata."

So I have now listed it as such.

This is a follow-up post to some odd growth on manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita ssp. manzanita) branches. Morgan Stickrod suggested that it might be a "disturbance response," which does occur in various types of Arctostaphylos. In this case, the disturbance seems to be woodborers. All of the burl-like growths on the outside of branches had woodbores underneath, inside the stem. However, this conclusion is based on a pretty small sample--I only opened up 3 or 4 sections of one small branch. (Manzanita wood was too hard for most of my available tools.) I found two types of woodborers; one I believe is Agrilus sp, possibly Agrilus arbuti which has been documented in manzanita in California. The second might be Lyctus sp, but there really isn't much to compare either borer to online, especially larvae or eggs. Photos 5-10 show the possible Agrilus bores, etc, and 11-12 are the possible Lyctus.

Original post: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140753976
Follow-up 2 observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143517527
Coleoptera Observation 1: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143513192
Coleoptera Observation 2: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143513486

Host: Catsear (I think - other opinions welcome.) Note brown gall body within a rosette gall composed of clustered leaves showing swollen petioles/ midribs. Not represented in Russo's field guides. @nancyasquith, @megachile, @kemper

Spotted knapweed (Centuarea stoebe) and star thistle (Centuarea solstitialis) hybrid. Centuarea stoebe X solstitialis. Growing among the two parent species. ID confirmed by Genevieve Walden at CDFA plant pest diagnostic lab via morphology. Molecular analysis by Patrick Woods and Monica Negrete turned up partial reads with hits on analyses to ribotypes for Centuarea solstitialis and to Centaurea stoebe.

The focus of this observation is not the plant (Plantago lanceolata), but whatever is causing the malformation. Instead of an inflorecense developing it seems to be producing a rosette of leaves and a white feathery looking texture at the base of those leaves.

(Arceuthobium littorum) Coastal Dwarf-Mistletoe is a Native parasitic mistletoe that only grows on native Monterey Pine and Bishop Pine; endemic to the coastline of northern California where these trees grow. Main stem is 3--14 cm, with segmented offshoots that are yellowish brown to olive green, with fragile, jointed stems. Only a tiny part of the plant is visible; most is parasitizing beneath the bark. Parasitic specifically on Pinus radiata (Monterey Pine) and Pinus muricata (Bishop Pine). Peak bloom time:
July-November. Fruits are clusters of pale green, spherical-shaped balls in the fall. An example observation of fruiting: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/93928981

See Fred Watson Journal Post discussion of Arceuthobium littorum vrs A. campylopodum: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/fredwatson/69693-coastal-dwarf-mistletoe-arceuthobium-littorum-taxonomic-history

TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993)
https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment?7836,7837,7845

A search on Jepson's eFlora of Arceuthobium littorum-- Jepson calls it a "synonym" and takes you to A. campylopodum. https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=13881

These 3 local references call it Arceuthobium littorum, Coastal Pine Dwarf Mistletoe:

Arceuthobium littorum (Pine/Dwarf Mistletoe) "Habitat: Coastal. This species is found only near the coast, on Monterey and Bishop Pines (Pinus radiata and Pinus muricata). It is wholly parasitic, using specially modified roots called haustoria to draw water and nutrients from its host plant. Although Jepson combines this species with two others under Arceuthobium campylodum, more recent literature suggests that differences in form and host plants justify keeping the three species separate."
Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees and Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/viscaceae/

These 2 local references also call it Arceuthobium littorum (Coastal Pine Dwarf Mistletoe):
Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 407.
Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 308-309.

Updated Edit November 8, 2022:
This seems to be a braconid wasp not known to be a gall former... so it must have tagged along somehow. They are known to parasitize lepidopterans so there could have been some micromoth pupa or larva on the foliage that I did not see?

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Notes September 7, 2022:
*I reared this little undescribed gallformer from Chamise Rosette Galls (see associated observation).
https://www.gallformers.org/gall/2679

a-fasciculatum-bud-rosette

The body is about 2mm and antennae a bit longer.*