Identification of a spiral spore? thing

[askpeeves1]

Hey

 

I need to identify this for a class and I searched google for anything I could find, and an accompanying picture, but got nothing.

 

I'm wondering if I'll find help here.

 

Here's a picture I drew of it. It's horrible, but it's what it looks like.

 

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9080/sporezp4.jpg

 

ALL white, spiral with two or three rotations, about .5 cm stalk length, with white balls (spores?) on the ends.

 

I found it on a door on the outside of an upstairs building in a perpetually shady spot.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[DrDNA]

I'm confused by your pic but it doesn't look "horrible"......

 

Scale of the features?

Where is the "stalk" you have mentioned in your pic?

Are each of those things in your pic independent....each ball connected to a "stalk" or is there a stalk somewhere that connects these?

 

Not dandilion or cotton tree?

[Royston]

ALL white, spiral with two or three rotations, about .5 cm stalk length, with white balls (spores?) on the ends.

 

Spores are released from the gills, which are found underneath the cap (the top of the mushroom.) It's possible something decomposed in a spiral shape, hence the mushrooms growing in a spiral. You need to give a little more information, i.e what country, and what colour are the gills (you'll need a magnifying glass), I'm guessing from your description they're mushrooms.

[askpeeves1]

can't bacteria, plants, fungi, and protista all have spores?

 

and yes everything in that picture is independent. The white "balls", perhaps spores but I guess not?, are at the end of each protruding white "stalk", but it may not be a stalk. It looks like tiny white sticks with very small cotton balls at the tips of them, in a spiral positioning, sticking off a door.

 

US, in Texas. It looked completely white.

[DrDNA]

can't bacteria, plants, fungi, and protista all have spores?

 

Yes but 0.5 cm is way too big for bacteria or protista spores.

 

from wikip:

Quote.

"Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, fungi and some protozoans."

........................

"The term spore may also refer to the dormant stage of some bacteria or archaea; however these are more correctly known as endospores and are not truly spores in the sense discussed in this article. The term can also be loosely applied to some animal resting stages. Fungi that produce spores are known as sporogenous, and those that do not are asporogenous."

 

End Quote.

 

So that leaves fungi (including molds I think) and plants. Since it was in the dark, perhaps you can eleminate plants.

It think it could be a fungus or a mold. But molds usually do not have the pattern. Looks to me like Snail could be right. I vote fungus also.

[askpeeves1]

any idea where i could find the answer? like is there a photo gallery online somewhere i could search thru to try and recognize it?

[foodchain]

Hey

 

I need to identify this for a class and I searched google for anything I could find, and an accompanying picture, but got nothing.

 

I'm wondering if I'll find help here.

 

Here's a picture I drew of it. It's horrible, but it's what it looks like.

 

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9080/sporezp4.jpg

 

ALL white, spiral with two or three rotations, about .5 cm stalk length, with white balls (spores?) on the ends.

 

I found it on a door on the outside of an upstairs building in a perpetually shady spot.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

Thanks

 

Jon

 

Are you sure its not just a chemical reaction? They can leave patterns also is all and produce products.

[askpeeves1]

a chemical reaction?

 

the picture isn't 2 dimensional

 

the things in the picture stick out at almost a complete 90 degree angle from the door, with the white balls at the tips.

 

could it really be a chemical reaction?

[foodchain]

I don’t know, I was thinking mold at first but I don’t know of any molds that look like that. It sounds biologic for sure but I don’t know of anything off hand of what you describe, then again I don’t really know nearly enough to know for sure. I do know that some chemical reactions can make patterns and leave products is all, so I was just checking with you but it sounds different then that.

[askpeeves1]

I found this other picture that looks a bit like it, thought it might help in clarifying

 

http://www.mycolog.com/4_Aspergillus_herbariorum.jpg

 

these just happen to be Aspergillus herbariorum

 

imagine those in this pic http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9080/sporezp4.jpg

 

and not transparent

[foodchain]

I found this other picture that looks a bit like it, thought it might help in clarifying

 

http://www.mycolog.com/4_Aspergillus_herbariorum.jpg

 

these just happen to be Aspergillus herbariorum

 

imagine those in this pic http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9080/sporezp4.jpg

 

and not transparent

 

crud, I was thinking of something totally different as in I thought it was more 2d then that. No, I don’t know of any chemical reactions that look like that:D I was thinking of properties of diffusion waves and what not.

[askpeeves1]

and i was hopeful

funny thing is this is for a philosophy class!!

but anyway i really need help so anybody, ANYBODY, if you can show me a picture of an organism combining

http://www.mycolog.com/4_Aspergillus_herbariorum.jpg

and

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9080/sporezp4.jpg

 

i would definitely give you your propers

 

thanks

 

jon

[foodchain]

The last bit of help I could try to offer is something like a mold can look different at different times or points in its life. So if you do get a good lead you might not want to just look at one image of the specie and then be off if its not a perfect match.

 

Sorry I could not be more help.

[DrDNA]

and i was hopeful

funny thing is this is for a philosophy class!!

 

then you can just say it is anything that you want it to be....an alien life form for that matter.

[Muppetsfromspace]

Hello. I joined because I have also found this exact spiral. On my car mirror. It is night but I will take picture tomorrow. I cannot see your picture, could you send to me? Mine appears exactly as you described- perfect (and I mean perfect) spiral. .5 cm stems with white balls at the end, and the spiral is about 1 inch diameter. I am in tarpon springs florida. It appeared about a week ago. I kept searching and could not get the right search terms until finding you, op. 

Update- they may be lacewing eggs

Edited July 10, 2020 by Muppetsfromspace
Update

[Steck]

I just found this on my car as well. Jacksonville, FL. I took a pic, so thought it might help. Sounds like the lacewing bug is good, so I’ll leave em & let em hatch!