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This report is the first of a mycorrhizal symbiosis between a fungus in Psathyrellaceae and a photosynthetic orchid, revealing a new pathway to full mycoheterotrophy and contributing to our understanding of the evolution of mycoheterotrophy.

Coprinopsis phlyctidospora (syn: Coprinus phlyctidosporus) from the Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia can be segregated into two groups, northern and southern, based on the nucleotide sequences of their ITS regions. The mating type of a C. phlyctidospora isolate was tetrapolar. Mating reactions were compatible between monokaryotic testers derived from basidiospores of a Japanese isolate and dikaryotic isolates obtained from a wide geographic area in Japan. In contrast, mating between the Japanese monokaryotic and dikaryotic isolates from Australia and New Zealand were incompatible. These results indicated that C. phlyctidospora was complex and individuals currently recognized as C. phlyctidospora in the Northern Hemisphere and those in the Southern Hemisphere are distinct taxa. The relationship between the clades and the biogeography of the C. phlyctidospora complex are also discussed.

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Morphology and comparative ecology of the fairy ring fungi, Vascellum curtisii and Bovista dermoxantha, on turf of bentgrass, bluegrass, and Zoysiagrass Abstract We identified the causal fungi of fairy rings as Vascellum curtisii and Bovista dermoxantha on the turf of bentgrass, bluegrass, and Zoysiagrass. Observing the fairy rings developed in the turfgrass study site in Chiba City for 5 years from 1998, V. curtisii, producing sporophores during June and November except midsummer, formed darkergreen rings than the adjacent turf and withered the three kinds of turf. B. dermoxantha produced sporophores exclusively in midsummer. The fungus formed dark green rings on the three kinds of turf but withered only bentgrass and bluegrass. The optimum mycelial growth temperature of V. curtisii was 30°C. Whereas that of B. dermoxantha ranged between 35° and 40°C. The infection test of the fungi to the seedlings revealed that V. curtisii damaged Zoysiagrass more severely than bentgrass and that B. dermoxantha was more injurious to bentgrass than Zoysiagrass.

Spatial distribution patterns of basidiocarps of Agaricales were studied in a Castanopsis-dominated forest in Kyoto.Sixty-seven species were recorded, of which 45 species and 99% of total dry weight were ectomycorrhizal fungi belonging to Amanitaceae, Cortinariaceae, Russulaceae, Boletaceae and Strobilomycetaceae. The data were analyzed statistically by using the m-m regression method. Three distribution patterns were recognized: aggregated, random and uniform. Although total basidiocarps were distributed randomly, basidiocarps of most species showed aggregated distributions, suggesting mycelium of ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi extend in a limited area in the soil. The degree of aggregation was different among species and this difference was suggested to reflect the difference of niche among the species.

A new species, Phlebopus spongiosus, is described with a peculiar sponge-like tissue in which the hollow spaces in the tubes are filled in by pleurocystidia-like elements, and a thin membrane of dissepiments encloses the immature pores. It occurs in citrus orchards (Citrus maxima) in southern Vietnam.

Characterization of the nematocidal toxocyst in Pleurotus subgen. Coremiopleurotus of toxocyst development. Each dikaryotic cell predominantly formed one or two toxocyst(s) while each monokaryotic cell predominantly formed one. In rare cases, a nucleus existed in the toxocyst, suggesting the possibility that the toxocyst is a vestigial blastoconidium.