Here is your Friday Phallic Fungus, a bridal veil stinkhorn. I found it in Borneo, but there are species of these all over the world. They do indeed smell kinda like a dead thing - but that attracts lots of bugs, which then distribute the fungal spores. Here's a closer look at--
--the veil (called the "indusium"), which is often white, but here was a pale pink. I saw four orders of insects while photographing this stinky shroom - many flies (Diptera), a few bees (Hymenoptera), a butterfly (Lepidoptera), and lots of little beetles (Coleoptera). Here--
--is a shot with all four orders at once. As a snickering side note, yes, people have noticed what the fungus resembles - but amusingly, the many common names are fairly demure (bridal veil, crinoline, veiled, long-net), whereas the scientific names are the ones that go--
--the full monty: Genus: Phallus. Order: Phallaceae. Family: Phallales. We get it, Professor Chuckles. Very mature. 🍆 Anyway--
--it was a cool thing to see. Here are a couple more pics, showing two different bees that landed on it. And as a photography side note, compare pics 1 and 3 above, of the whole scene - I prefer pic 1, in natural light, to pic 3 with fill flash.
You can follow @tjalamont.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: