This issue of Mycological Research News features: An Amanita muscaria fruit body with a pored hymenium; and Aspergillosis in sea fans. A review article considers the chemistry, biology , toxicology and ethnomycology of A. muscaria, and fast-tracked is a paper reporting double-stranded RNA elements in Agaricus bisporus mushrooms affected by MVX disease.

Molecular papers consider the population structure in Fomitopsis rosea, and the relationships of Sclerotium rolfsii and S. delphinii, present evidence for recombination in ‘asexual’ Alternaria spp., examine the genetic diversity in Rhizoctonia isolates from Lotus, and demonstrate polymorphisms in biosynthesis genes in Fusarium graminearum. DNA fingerprinting reveals differences in Pochonia chlamydosporia from different nematode hosts, and primers for the detection of P. chlamydosporia var. catenulate effective in soil have been devised.

Ascospore release and survival in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum has been studied in depth, and the anaerobic conditions for the production of the yeast-like morph of Rhizopus circinelloides described. The effects of tropical Xylariaceae as wood decay agents of hard- and soft-woods are compared.

Systematic papers consider Beverwykella and similar tropical aeroaquatic hyphomycetes, report the rediscovery of Basidiobolum fimbriatum, and describe a fossil Metacapnodium species from Baltic amber.

The following new scientific names are introduced in this part: Ramicephala gen. nov.; Beverwykella clathrata and R. sphaerospora spp. nov.; and Metacapnodium succinum comb. nov. (syn. Rosaria succina).