Lycogala epidendrum

Figure 1:

What is Wolf's Milk? (Lycogala epindrum)

Lycogala epidendrum (Wolf's Milk) is a little, round, orange or pink ball that grows in groups on dead wood. As it gets older, it slowly tans into an olive color. When opened, a pinkish-gray or orange pastelike fluid is released from the organism, which is why it is commonly referred to as toothpaste slime. Commonly found in forests, but can grow on any piece of dead wood, and is found across North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. (Wolf’s-Milk Slime (toothpaste slime) 1)

Lycogala epidendrum

Family and genus:

Lycogala epidendrum comes from the family Reticulariaceae, which is a family of the genus amoebozoans, which despite being very similar to fungi, are different. Wolf's Milk is actually considered a slime mold, which is considered somewhere in between a plant, an animal, and a fungi, and has been considered all three at one point. (Wolf's-Milk Slime (toothpaste slime) 2)

Figure 2: main phylogenetic tree used as result in study

Data Analysis : "Two independent genetic markers support separation of the myxomycete Lycogala epidendrum into numerous biological species"

In this study and shown in figure 1, the authors of this article tested and found that all of the organisms placed under the Lycogala epidendrum name actually are different enough to be placed in 4 other species, Lycogala confusm, Lycogala conicum, Lycogala exiguum, Lycogala flavofuscum. They did this by studying the organisms and creating many different phylogenetic trees and using different methods each time. (Buttgereit, et. al 2022)

Works Cited:

Dmytro Leontyev, Marina Buttgereit, Anastasia Kochergina, Oleg Shchepin & Martin Schnittler (2023) Two independent genetic markers support separation of the myxomycete Lycogala epidendrum into numerous biological species, Mycologia, 115:1, 32-43, DOI: 10.1080/00275514.2022.2133526 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00275514.2022.2133526

Wolf’s-Milk Slime (toothpaste slime). Missouri Department of Conservation. (n.d.). https://mdc.mo.gov/discover- nature/field-guide/wolfs-milk-slime-toothpaste-slime

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