The 7th of June, 2026, was a rather mellow day for me. My family and I stayed indoors for most of the day, as heavy rain battered the city. But when I went outside when the rain stopped to go kill some Spotted Lanternflies (invasive pests threatening North American crops and trees. Look up how to ID and kill 'em so you can join the fight), I noticed some jelly fungi fruiting on a stick. So I went inside, got my camera, and popped the macro lens and ringlight on it. I took some pics of the jelly fungi then noticed the crust fungi were lookin' good. Then I noticed some weird little bugs on em'. And then I took some pics of my polypore sticks. And some of my lichens. And then- well, you get the point. I saw a bunch of cool stuff and got tons of cool photos, so here they are!
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| Lots of the little bugs (they're called thrips, singular thrips), weird yellow slime, and red staining on Giraffe Spots fungus. I wrote a huge report about the weird stuff above that's at the bottom. I might report it to somebody or some website someday. |
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| The segmented lil' red guys are the kids while the shiny black ones are the adults |
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Three weird things about thrips:
They only have their left mandible, not the right, and they eat by stabbing their food, pumping it with spit, and slurping up the juices.
Like ants, bees, and wasps, the sex of the offspring is determined not by chromosomes but by if the egg is fertilized or not, females hatching from fertilized eggs and males from unfertilized ones.
Finally, while technically undergoing incomplete metamorphosis (gradually turning from a wingless, non-reproductive, small nymph into a larger, winged, fertile adult), young thrips do spin loose cocoons and sit in them, not eating, before emerging as adults. But unlike, say, butterflies, the young really don't completely remodel themselves. |
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| What Giraffe Spots normally look like, without all the thrips, yellow goo, and red stains. Actually, Giraffe Spots rarely form these large crusts. |
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| Giraffe spots normally form o bunch of these little spots to spread spores. Then thrips come and go nom-nom, I guess |
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| Look at these weirdly large Giraffe Spots fruiting crusts |
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| LOOK AT THEM |
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| These thrips are in paradise |
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| While most macrofungi (fungi that form easily visible fruiting bodies) form horizontal brackets, familiar mushrooms, or flaky crusts, Giraffe Spots fruit look more like the growing main body of a mold on a petri dish than the measly reproductive growth they are. |
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| Lots of Giraffe Spots |
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| Violet Toothed Polypore |
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| They sure weren't lyin' about the violet part |
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| Might've been makin' and understatement, though |
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| Violet-toothed Polypore fruiting body not living up to the violet part |
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| It looks so weird because this fungus likes it's sporulating pores face down, and it can also sense gravity. So this stick has been flipped around a lot, confusing the fungus. Also, this is a very old fruiting body. Plus it's being taken over by some Milk-white Toothed Polypore or similar crust (pure white growths) |
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| Some mycelium or something fungal |
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| Or is it fungal? It may be a slime mold (single, fungus-like amoeba cell that can be the size of your face or a bunch of fungus-like amoebas that can be the size of your face) |
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| Yeah, I'm going with Slime Mold. That weird tan stuff look very giant amoeba. Note: most slime molds are humble decomposers, not gross pond germs. |
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| Splitgills!!! Unlike everything above, I picked of this cool mushroom at a random wood & brush pile at a park from a tree trimming. So I saved it from being woodchipped maybe |
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| Turkey-tails from a log I picked up at a random lil' log near the MSI. It was on a lawn. Also, Turkey-tails and Splitgills are some of the two most widespread, adaptable mushrooms on earth, so I think I'm good on ethics. Also, they're doin' good in my nice backyard. |
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| The jelly fungi that started it all. Actually it was the lanterflies that started the backyard excursion. |
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| Weird detritus |
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| Mycelium |
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| Weird droplets |
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| Milk-white Toothed polypore |
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| Some thrips eating Milk-white Toothed polypore |
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| Rough-speckled Shield Lichen. Picked up this cool lichen on a stick in a lawn at Kankakee River State Forest. This species was thriving there, so I think I'm good on ethics of bringing it home again. |
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| Candleflame Lichen (yellowish) and another one that came to my family's and my backyard by themselves. Way to go lichens. Just in general. There are like ten independent lineages of them and some can chill out in space. |
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| Pom-pom Shadow Lichen and Starry Bristle Moss |
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| Unidentified moss (bristly moss) and Woodsy Thyme Moss (frond-like moss) |
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| Mycelium |
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| Mycelium, a lil' perfect sphere appearing to be a water droplet, all on wood that for some reason reminds me of those BBQ ribs at Costco |
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| Lichen |
Unidentified phenomena on a Giraffe Spots fungus
Date: June 17, 2026. 5:50 pm.
Location: Bridgeport, Chicago, IL, USA.
Habitat: dead redbud branches (bark intact), jewelweed-rich backyard, residential urban area.
Phenomena on: Giraffe Spots fungus (Peniophora albobadia).
Giraffe Spots description: taupe-colored hymenium. The Giraffe Spots fungus on the dead redbud branches likes to form relatively large
fruiting bodies compared to usual ones of this species, normally being 1 by 2-5 inches.
List of phenomena: Fungivorous Thrips, yellow slime, reddish stains.
Thrips description: 1-1.5 mm long nymphs, bright red, segments visible, glossy black conical pointed anal segment. Slightly larger
glossy black adults, wingless. No “pupae” visible. Thriving across the many patches of Giraffe Spots fruiting
bodies.
Slime description: >0.1 mm thick, shiny, ever so slightly transparent, but very yellow for the miniscule thickness.
Staining description: Many reddish stains about 1-1.5 inch in diameter each (uneven shape) across the many patches of Giraffe Spots
fruiting bodies.
Notes: a severe rainstorm that lasted most of the day ended just before these photos were taken. Local air quality was
good to fair, but there was a spike of significantly more polluted air around noon. The branches were elevated
~3-5 feet. They get plenty of air, and are exposed to direct sunlight to the south-southeast, light shade to the
southwest, and heavy shade everywhere else. A taupe-colored jelly fungus was seen nearby, and was possibly
parasitizing the Giraffe Spots. The Giraffe Spots may have had competition from Milk-white Toothed Polypore or
a similar crust. The redbud branches have had crust fungus activity for a few years.
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