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Meliola pithecellobii var. indica var. nov. a-Appressorium, b-Phialide, c-Apical portion of the mycelial setae; d-Ascospores
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One month field collection tour resulted in the collection of more than 500 foliicolous fungi. Of these, 152 collections have been identified, resulted in recording 60 fungal taxa. Of these, one new genus (Andamanomyces), 16 new species (Andamanomyces fragariae, Asterediella anaxagoreae, Asteridiella colocasiae, Asterina eleocarpigena, Asterostomel...
Citations
... As regards to insular floristic studies of Andaman-Nicobar Islands, the floristic enumerations are mostly concentrated with higher group of plants and interestingly, it is found that this insular region is highly rich in species diversity of higher plant groups; while, rather lesser known about the lower groups such as Algae, Fungi etc., owing to dearth of information. Nevertheless, detailed documentation on insular microfungal flora associated with higher plants has been initiated during the earlier part of the millennium and is still continuing (Mishra, 1986;Hosagoudar and Mathew, 2000;Hosagoudar et al., 2014;Mathew et al., 2017;Sabeena et al., 2018;Sabeena and Biju, 2022). Niranjan and Sarma (2018) enumerated the occurrence of 446 species of fungi distributed over 216 genera, 96 families, 44 orders, ten classes and seven phyla from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. ...
An infrequent foliicolous fungal species, Bheemamyces uvariae sp. nov., was found infecting the leaves of Uvaria hamiltonii Hook. f. and Thomson (Annonaceae), collected from Mount Harriet National Park, South Andaman is described and illustrated in detail. Bheemamyces uvariae is characterized in having both lateral appressoria on the main hyphae and lateral, sublateral to intercalary appressoria on the hyphae originated from the main hyphae, narrower, curved, slightly elevated from the host surface and pointed at the tip. This is the first record of the genus Bheemamyces on the members of the family Annonaceae.
... Little Andaman in the south is separated from the Nicobar Islands by the Ten Degree Channel that is about 145 km wide. There are around 19 islands in the Nicobar region (Prasad et al. 2009, Hosagoudar, 2000, Hosagoudar et al. 2014. ...
Andaman and Nicobar Islands constitute isolated group of five hundred and seventy-two islands with most of them human un-inhabited having rich flora and fauna. A checklist of fungi reported from Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been compiled based on the information available in the literature and is provided in a table. Totally 446 fungal species, distributed over 216 genera, 96 families, 44 orders, ten classes and seven phyla have been reported so far. Meliola is the most speciose genus and the family Meliolaceae has been represented with a large number of species. Among the different order Ostropales has been represented with a large number of species than others. In the case of different classes Sordariomycetes has more representation and the Ascomycota among different phyla. There are only a few reports available on the research carried out from the Islands and these are mostly on lichenized fungi and Meliolales in addition to a single report on 63 marine fungi from mangroves of the Islands through one collection. This reflects on the specialists who have contributed research work from the Islands. As otherwise the Islands have largely remained unexplored for fungal diversity.
... According to an official estimation, the insular vegetation is known to host about 2645 taxa under 237 families and 1077 genera belonging to Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, Pteridophytes and Bryophytes (Pandey & Diwakar, 2008). Interestingly, it is found that considerable floristic evaluation on higher groups of insular plants have been carried out in Andaman-Nicobar Islands by the Botanical Survey of India and other agencies; nevertheless, the lower groups coexisting with higher group of taxa, especially the micro fungi are rarely known or rather little known until the recent investigation carried out by us (Hosagoudar & Mathew, 2000;Hosagoudar et al, 2014). The present investigation added over 100 micro-fungal taxa to the lesser known insular fungal flora of the Andaman-Nicobar Islands and the investigation is in progress. ...
Three new foliicolous fungal taxa from Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal have been described and illustrated herewith. Meliola dysoxyli-andamanensis, as new species and Asterina miliusae var. andamanica and Meliola memecyli var. andamanica as new varieties are included in this article.
... According to an official estimation, the insular vegetation is known to host about 2645 taxa under 237 families and 1077 genera belonging to Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, Pteridophytes and Bryophytes (Pandey & Diwakar, 2008). Interestingly, it is found that considerable floristic evaluation on higher groups of insular plants have been carried out in Andaman-Nicobar Islands by the Botanical Survey of India and other agencies; nevertheless, the lower groups coexisting with higher group of taxa, especially the micro fungi are rarely known or rather little known until the recent investigation carried out by us (Hosagoudar & Mathew, 2000;Hosagoudar et al, 2014). The present investigation added over 100 micro-fungal taxa to the lesser known insular fungal flora of the Andaman-Nicobar Islands and the investigation is in progress. ...
Over the past three decades, a wealth of studies has shown that palm trees (Arecaceae) are a diverse habitat with intense fungal colonisation, making them an important substratum to explore fungal diversity. Palm trees are perennial, monocotyledonous plants mainly restricted to the tropics that include economically important crops and highly valued ornamental plants worldwide. The extensive research conducted in Southeast Asia and Australasia indicates that palm fungi are undoubtedly a taxonomically diverse assemblage from which a remarkable number of new species is continuously being reported. Despite this wealth of data, no recent comprehensive review on palm fungi exists to date. In this regard, we present here a historical account and discussion of the research on the palm fungi to reflect on their importance as a diverse and understudied assemblage. The taxonomic structure of palm fungi is also outlined, along with comments on the need for further studies to place them within modern DNA sequence-based classifications. Palm trees can be considered model plants for studying fungal biodiversity and, therefore, the key role of palm fungi in biodiversity surveys is discussed. The close association and intrinsic relationship between palm hosts and palm fungi, coupled with a high fungal diversity, suggest that the diversity of palm fungi is still far from being fully understood. The figures suggested in the literature for the diversity of palm fungi have been revisited and updated here. As a result, it is estimated that there are about 76,000 species of palm fungi worldwide, of which more than 2500 are currently known. This review emphasises that research on palm fungi may provide answers to a number of current fungal biodiversity challenges.
Epifoliar fungi are one of the significant fungal groups typically living on the surface of leaves. They are usually recorded as saprobes, obligate parasites and commensals and are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Numerous genera within this group remain inadequately understood, primarily attributed to limited taxonomic knowledge and insufficient molecular data. Furthermore, the taxonomic delineation of epifoliar fungi remained uncertain, with scattered and literature-based data often intermixed with other follicolous fungi. Herein, a comprehensive taxonomic monograph of 124 genera in (32) Asterinales, (18) Capnodiales, (15) Chaetothyriales, (8) Meliolales, (8) Micropeltidales, (10) Microthyriales, (32) Parmulariales and (1) Zeloasperisporiales was provided re-describing with illustrations and line drawings. Notes on ecological and economic importance of the families are also provided. Representatives type herbarium materials of Campoa pulcherrima, Cycloschizon brachylaenae, Ferrarisia philippina, Hysterostomella guaranitica, Palawaniella orbiculata and Pseudolembosia orbicularis of Parmulariaceae were re-examined and provided updated illustrations with descriptions. A backbone phylogenetic tree and divergence estimation analysis for epifoliar fungi based on LSU and 5.8s ITS sequence data are provided.
Knowledge of the relationships and thus the classification of fungi, has developed rapidly with increasingly widespread use of molecular techniques, over the past 10–15 years, and continues to accelerate. Several genera have been found to be polyphyletic, and their generic concepts have subsequently been emended. New names have thus been introduced for species which are phylogenetically distinct from the type species of particular genera. The ending of the separate naming of morphs of the same species in 2011, has also caused changes in fungal generic names. In order to facilitate access to all important changes, it was desirable to compile these in a single document. The present article provides a list of generic names of Ascomycota (approximately 6500 accepted names published to the end of 2016), including those which are lichen-forming. Notes and summaries of the changes since the last edition of ‘Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi’ in 2008 are provided. The notes include the number of accepted species, classification, type species (with location of the type material), culture availability, life-styles, distribution, and selected publications that have appeared since 2008. This work is intended to provide the foundation for updating the ascomycete component of the “Without prejudice list of generic names of Fungi” published in 2013, which will be developed into a list of protected generic names. This will be subjected to the XIXth International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen in July 2017 agreeing to a modification in the rules relating to protected lists, and scrutiny by procedures determined by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi (NCF). The previously invalidly published generic names Barriopsis, Collophora (as Collophorina), Cryomyces, Dematiopleospora, Heterospora (as Heterosporicola), Lithophila, Palmomyces (as Palmaria) and Saxomyces are validated, as are two previously invalid family names, Bartaliniaceae and Wiesneriomycetaceae. Four species of Lalaria, which were invalidly published are transferred to Taphrina and validated as new combinations. Catenomycopsis Tibell & Constant. is reduced under Chaenothecopsis Vain., while Dichomera Cooke is reduced under Botryosphaeria Ces. & De Not. (Art. 59).
Meliolales is the largest order of epifoliar fungi, characterized by branched, dark brown, superficial mycelium with two-celled hyphopodia; superficial, globose to subglobose, dark brown perithecia, and septate, dark brown ascospores. The assumption of host-specificity means this group a highly diverse and it is imperative to identify the host before attempting to identify a fungal collection. This paper has compiled information from fungal and plant databases, including all fungal species of Meliolales and their host information from protologues. Current names of plants and corresponding fungi with integration of their synonyms are made into an alphabetical checklist, and references are provided. Exclusions and spelling conflicts of fungal species are also listed. Statistics show that the order comprises 2403 species (including 106 uncertain species), infecting among 194 host families, with an additional 20 excluded records. This checklist will be useful for the future identifications and classifications of Meliolales.
Cite as: Gautam AK & Avasthi S (2016) Mitteriella ziziphi (Ascomycota) on Zizyphus nummularia from the Himachal Pradesh and its distribution extension in India. Tropical Plant Research 3(2): 341–343] Mitteriella, an anamorphic fungus was proposed by Sydow & Mitter (1933). The genus is characterized by short, simple, macronematous, mononematous conidiophores with polyblastic, integrated terminal, sympodial, denticulate broad conidiogenous cells and solitary, simple, ellipsoidal to limoniform, black, 0–4-septate conidia (Ellis 1971). During the exploration of foliicolous fungi of Himachal Pradesh, a black mildew infection was noticed on Zizyphus nummularia (Rhamnaceae). Critical microscopic examination of the fungus identified it as Mitteriella ziziphi. A detailed literature survey and comparative analyses revealed that this black mildew fungus has been recorded from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerela and Andaman Islands previously. However, no reports were found from other part of the country. Therefore, we present here a new record from Himachal Pradesh which is new addition to the mycoflora of state and distribution extension in India. The detailed taxonomic descriptions of the fungi are presented in this study. The plant leaves showing infection with black superficial fungal colonies were collected from Berthin (District Bilaspur) of Himachal Pradesh, India. Field notes were made regarding nature of colonies, nature of infection, locality and altitude, etc. These infected leaves along with a host twigs and reproductive parts were dried between sheets of blotting paper and preserve for further studies. Host plants were identified and confirmed by matching the collections with herbarium and by consulting botanists. The specimen was deposited at Faculty of Agriculture, Abhilashi University Mandi (AUMH), Himachal Pradesh, India for further reference. Figure 1. Map of India showing distribution of M. ziziphina in various states and its distribution extension. (Blue colour denotes existing reports; red colour denotes new addition to the mycoflora of Himachal Pradesh and distribution extension in India) The morphological examination of colonies was carried out with the help of hand lenses for colour and texture. In the laboratory, the Nail polish technique was used to study the micro-morphological characters of the
