I found this in my yard, I have no idea what it is so I hope it's alright to ask this question in this forum, I've never seen anything like this before, does anyone have an idea what it is ? It's about the size of a tennis ball, the rope is attached to a pole/tarp on the garage and at the ground end is anchored to an old tree stump. as you can see the innards are brown and yellow substance with a consistancy of cake batter. the exterior is a slightly harder crust. I can only imagine how many bugs/insects it must have taken to amass that much.... whatever it is. it seems more like a food stash than a nest of any kind. we live in the Okanagan, southern British Columbia. Canada.
GACK! Could it be some kind of fungal growth...from another planet maybe? Jeez loueeze, pursang---hope you donned goggles and a HAZMAT suit before performing the surgery! Everyone: Run for your lives!!!
EEW yummy....lol I'm thinking on the lines of a slime mould? The brown/yellow I'm guessing is the spore or even the fruiting bodies? Sometimes these things pop up in the oddest places only to die off quickly and sometimes leaving the most unattractive looking remains.
I think this is it. http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/crust and parchment/species pages/Fuligo septica.htm "The flesh transforms into a crusty, cake-like mass of darker and variable color. The brittle crust easily breaks away to reveal a dull-black spore mass"
Yep, slime mould. It is harmless, note that the grass it has grown up around is undamaged. It feeds on decaying mulch, etc., converting it into nutrients that plants can use.
