Clubs/stalks on invertebrates species

In the Canberra Nature Map area most of the club-like invertebrate parasites would belong to the genus Cordyceps (or its relatives) and these are known colloquially as Vegetable caterpillars.  A couple of species produce sizeable clubs (over 10 centimetres) but others reach only a centimetres or so in height. A 10x handlens is likely to show you pimples on the upper part of a Cordyceps fruitbody. Each pimple is the apex of an embedded perithecium, a roughly spherical chamber within which you find the spore-producing organs.

In many cases the parasitized invertebrate is likely to be out of sight, with the fruitbody seemingly growing from wood or soil.