Devil's finger found on Dartmoor
Added: 26th January 2012
In November 2011 Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) received a record of more than 30 fruiting Clathrus archeri (also known as Devil’s fingers or octopus stinkhorn) on Dartmoor. This introduced fungus originates from Australia and New Zealand. It forms a gelatinous ‘egg’ which erupts, revealing up to eight reddish, foul-smelling tentacles to attract flies which spread its spores. It was first recorded in Cornwall in 1946 and is gradually spreading in the south, favouring the medium of wood-chip mulch. Michael Jordan of the Association of British Fungus Groups (ABFG) commented: ‘It
is undoubtedly expanding its range in the South West. The majority of the ABFG’s records currently come from west Cornwall and it is spreading quite rapidly in south Hampshire’.
Currently DBRC has only three other records of this fungus on its database: two from Dartmoor and one from Great Torrington. Please post your sightings on www.dbrc.org.uk