Those strange-looking insect eggs are actually slime mold

DEAR JOAN >> I got my tomato cages out from behind my shed this morning and found these. They look like clusters of insect eggs. Any idea what they are?

DEAR CARL >> I thought your surprising find might have been some sort of insect eggs, so I sent the photo to my favorite bug guy, Steve Schutz of the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, for a specific identification.

He says they aren’t eggs at all, but likely are the fruiting bodies of a slime mold, perhaps growing on remnants of tomato plant leaves and stems on the cages. Sure enough, after more research, that’s exactly what they appear to be.

Slime molds are primitive fungi that feed off dead or decaying organic matter, and they produce fruiting bodies that can appear as sheets, mounds, crusts, blobs and things that look like insect eggs.

They are classified as Myxomycetes, a large class that includes five orders, 14 families, 62 genera and 888 species.

While most species are small, some can reach 44 pounds and cover 3½ feet. That’s something I don’t think I’d care to encounter. Otherwise, they’re nothing to worry about.

Researchers don’t quite know what triggers some slime molds to produce fruit bodies, but it could happen if they run out of food and go into panic mode, not unlike our desire to fill our houses with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. When this happens, they produce the fruit, and when it dries up, it disperses spores and creates more slime mold.

Truth in advertising

Apparently there are some incredible artists among the many volunteers who make the dayto-day operations of Oakland Animal Services possible. And then there are the others.

The Friends of Oakland Animal Service are hoping people’s desire to help pets will overcome any artistic taste they might have and join in on a new fundraiser for the shelter.

For a donation of $25, a possibly talented shelter volunteer will create an original portrait of the donor’s pet.

“We’re asking the Bay Area’s animal lovers to set their bars nice and low, then donate to receive their questionable pet portraits today,” FOAS Program and Fundraising Director Lisa Franzetta says.

Shelter workers say it’s all in good fun and for a good cause. And given what we’ve been going through, they thought giving people a laugh from a socially comfortable distance was a good idea.

To donate and receive your portrait, go to oaklandanimalservices. org. Since launching the drive Wednesday, the campaign has raised almost $8,000 and a lot of bad art.

— Carl Baeuerlen, Los Altos

Keep adopting

Some animal shelters are noticing that not as many people are coming in to adopt pets, probably related to our focus on COVID-19, the coronavirus. I know we’re concerned, and I hope everyone is doing their best to avoid contracting and spreading it, but if you’ve been thinking about adopting a pet, don’t put it off.

Most shelters will arrange private meetings with potential adopters so you won’t have to worry about crowds, and having a pet will help calm you down.