Tropical Mycology: Volume 2, Micromycetes Tropical Mycology: Volume 2, Micromycetes Edited by Roy Watling, Juliet C. Frankland, A.M. Ainsworth, Susan Isaac and Clare H. Robinson CABI Publishing CABI Publishing is a division of CAB International CABI Publishing CABI Publishing CAB International 10 E 40th Street Wallingford Suite 3203 Oxon OX10 8DE New York, NY 10016 UK USA Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Tel: +1 212 481 7018 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 Fax: +1 212 686 7993 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web site: www.cabi-publishing.org © CAB International 2002. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tropical mycology / edited by Roy Watling ... [et al.]. p. cm. Selected papers of the Millenium Symposium held April 2000 at the Liverpool John Moores University and organized by the British Mycological Society. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. Macromycetes. ISBN 0-85199-542-X (v. 1 : alk. paper) 1. Mycology--Tropics--Congresses. 2. Fungi--Tropics--Congresses. I. Watling, Roy. QK615.7.T76 2001 616.9¢69¢00913--dc21 2001025877 ISBN 0 85199 543 8 Typeset in Photina by Wyvern 21 Ltd. Printed and bound in the UK by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn. Contents Dedication vii Contributors ix Preface xi 1 Why Study Tropical Fungi? 1 D.L. Hawksworth 2 Key to Tropical Species of Nectria-like Fungi 13 G.J. Samuels, A.Y. Rossman and H.-J. Schroers 3 A Reassessment of the Taxonomy of Some Tropical Sooty Moulds 33 J.L. Faull, I. Olejnik, M. Ingrouille and D. Reynolds 4 Lignicolous Freshwater Higher Fungi with Reference to their Teleomorph and Anamorph Stages 41 S. Sivichai, E.B. Gareth Jones and N.L. Hywel-Jones 5 The Pandanaceae – Does it Have a Diverse and Unique Fungal Biota? 51 E.H.C. McKenzie, S.R. Whitton and K.D. Hyde 6 Aspects of Graminicolous Downy Mildew Biology: Perspectives for Tropical Plant Pathology and Peronosporomycetes Phylogeny 63 M.A. Spencer and M.W. Dick v vi Contents 7 Invasive Neotropical Pathogens of Tree Crops 83 H.C. Evans 8 Lichens of Tropical Forests 113 B.J. Coppins and P. Wolseley 9 The Importance of Invertebrate-pathogenic Fungi from the Tropics 133 N.L. Hywel-Jones 10 Tropical Mycoses: Hazards to Travellers 145 E.G.V. Evans and H.R. Ashbee 11 Recent and Future Discoveries of Pharmacologically Active Metabolites from Tropical Fungi 165 G. Bills, A. Dombrowski, F. Peláez, J. Polishook and Zhiqiang An Index 195 Dedication It is with great pleasure that this volume is dedicated to Dr Reginald W.G. Dennis, who has made many important contributions to our understanding of tropical fungi, especially in unravelling the complexities of members of the large genus Xylaria and allies. His mycological interests range from the hyaloscyphaceous and helotiaceous ascomycetes to pyrenomycetous taxa, agarics, rusts and gasteromycetes. Visits to Trinidad and Venezuela, in 1949 and 1958, resulted in several papers, which were to be only a foretaste of his Fungus Flora of Venezuela and Adjacent Countries, published in 1970 and illus- trated with his own watercolours. It has become an indispensable companion to any mycologist working in South America and is a useful introductory guide for all tropical fungus researchers. He began his career as a plant pathologist working in Scotland at the West of Scotland College of Agriculture and Dept of Agriculture of Scotland, East Craigs, as they were then, with a sandwich period between in the School of Agriculture, Cambridge. He moved to taxon- omy from his earlier work on plant pathogens, including virus diseases of cereal and root crops, when he joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1944, where he still works even though retired. He is an Honorary Member of the British Mycological Society, The Mycological Society of America and the Swiss Mycological Society, and is a Corresponding Member of the Botanical Society of Argentina. A special Festschrift published in Vol. 31 of the Kew Bulletin was dedi- cated to Dr Dennis on his retirement from service and includes therein an account of his works and interests. He was 90 in July 2000. Roy Watling, June 2001 (See Spooner, B.J. (2000) Mycological Research 104, 1410.) vii Contributors Zhiqiang An, Centro de Investigación Básica, Merck, Sharp & Dohme de España S.A., Josefa Valcárcel 38, 28027 Madrid, Spain H. Ruth Ashbee, Mycology Reference Centre, Division of Microbiology, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT and General Infirmary, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK Gerald Bills, Centro de Investigación Básica, Merck, Sharp & Dohme de España S.A., Josefa Valcárcel 38, 28027 Madrid, Spain Brian J. Coppins, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, UK M.W. Dick, Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics, School of Plant Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AS, UK Anne Dombrowski, Natural Products Drug Discovery, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ 07065, USA E.G.V. Evans, Mycology Reference Centre, Division of Microbiology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK and General Infirmary, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK; present address: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK Harry C. Evans, CABI Bioscience, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7TA, UK J.L. Faull, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK E.B. Gareth Jones, BIOTEC–Mycology, Yothi Laboritories, 73/1 Rama 6 Road, Rajdhevee, Bangkok 10400, Thailand David L. Hawksworth, Departamento de Biología Vegetal II, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense, Plaza de Ramon y Cajal, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain Kevin D. Hyde, Centre for Research in Fungal Diversity, Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, SAR, China ix x Contributors Nigel L. Hywel-Jones, BIOTEC–Mycology, Yothi Laboratories, 73/1 Rama 6 Road, Rajdhevee, Bangkok 10400, Thailand M. Ingrouille, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK Eric H.C. McKenzie, Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, New Zealand I. Olejnik, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK Fernando Peláez, Centro de Investigación Básica, Merck, Sharp & Dohme de España S.A., Josefa Valcárcel 38, 28027 Madrid, Spain Jon Polishook, Natural Products Drug Discovery, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ 07065, USA D. Reynolds, Botany Section, Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA Amy Y. Rossman, Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA Gary J. Samuels, Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA Hans-Josef Schroers, Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, 3508 AD Utrecht, The Netherlands Somsak Sivichai, BIOTEC–Mycology, Yothi Laboratories, 73/1 Rama 6 Road, Rajdhevee, Bangkok 10400, Thailand M.A. Spencer, Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics, School of Plant Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AS, UK Stephen R. Whitton, Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, New Zealand Pat Wolseley, Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Preface Half of the membership of the British Mycological Society resides abroad and many of these members are from countries which are generally considered to be situated in ‘The Tropics’. Since the Sixth General Meeting of the Society held in Birmingham in 1988, the Society has recognized the increasing impor- tance of tropical mycology and Council felt that it would be appropriate to bring both these factors of membership and research interests together to celebrate the millennium. A symposium therefore was organized for April 2000 to cover as many aspects as possible of the tropical mycobiota. This volume is one of two which result from this Millennium Symposium held at the Liverpool John Moores University. In order to broaden the scope and the depth of the subjects covered, other chapters not formally presented at the symposium are included. This present volume deals with the microfungi; Volume 1 deals with the macrofungi. The British Mycological Society has now organized two meetings specifi- cally on Tropical Mycology and both were held in Liverpool, coincidentally a city with a long history of contacts with the areas of the world which lie between 25° North and South of the equator and known to us all as ‘The Tropics’. The present pair of books will therefore act as a companion to the Proceedings of the meeting held in 1992, which were published 1 year later under the title Aspects of Tropical Mycology. The chapters included here have expanded the ideas first discussed therein and each is a summary of the state of knowledge in the respective field. Some of the studies have indirect connections to the two expeditions the Society has organized to tropical areas, the first to Ecuador in 1993 and the second to Thailand in 1997. In the selection of subjects, attempts have been made to bring together xi xii Preface papers which offer a wide spectrum of information, linking results from studies in the New World to data from the Old World tropics. Contributions by 26 researchers provide 11 chapters covering the major area of the tropics. Although our knowledge of the tropical mycotas is far from adequate, the surge of interest in the fungi of these areas has expanded our knowledge several-fold since 1992, as documented in the first chapter, the contents of which could equally apply to both the macro- and the microfungi.