Harposporium arcuatum, H. dicorymbum and H. subuliforme were isolated from nematodes and grown in pure culture. All three species produced accessory conidia in culture and two species also produced arthroconidia. A comparative study of spore production within nematophagous members of the genus Harposporium was made.

Lindtneria hydnoidea sp. nov. is described, characterized by a hydnoid hymenophore and a total lack of clamp-connections on the generative hyphae. A key is given to all currently accepted Lindtneria species.

Female flies (Phorbia phrenione) cross fertilize Epichloë typhina via a specific behaviour in which they transfer spores among self-incompatible fungi. Flies ingest spores while visiting fungi for egg laying. Only 11% of stromata lacking P. phrenione eggs produced perithecia and these perithecia covered an average of only 8% of the stromatal surfaces. In contrast, 71% of stromata that possessed fly eggs produced perithecia, covering 54% of the stromatal surfaces. Immediately following oviposition, flies stereotypically drag their abdomen across the fungus in a spiral pattern while excreting faeces. Transfer of fly faeces to unfertilized stromata resulted in cross fertilization. We observed spiralling patterns of perithecial development on fungal surfaces, signifying the behaviour of the fly results in cross fertilization of the fungus. This is the first documentation of active fertilization in an insect-fungus mutualism.

The identification of Trichoderma strains is important for their application as biocontrol agents. We used a two-dimensional analysis, in which extracellular proteins of Trichoderma harzianum strains T-35, Y and TM were first separated according to their isoelectric point and then according to their molecular mass. Chitinase activities were detected in situ after the second separation. Each of the three strains exhibited a unique pattern of 3–5 different chitinases (1 or 2 N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidases, and 2 or 4 endochitinases). These unique profiles can be used to differentiate among strains within this species. The suggested procedure makes use of a property of T. harzianum that is directly involved in the mycoparasitic interaction, making it suitable for specific biocontrol applications.

Stratiphoromyces brunneisporus gen. et sp. nov. occurring on decaying petioles of Licuala spp., collected from rain forests in Australia and Brunei, is described and illustrated. It is unique in producing a globose mass of brown, uniseptate, curved, setulate conidia, from percurrently proliferating conidiogenous cells at the apex of solitary, erect, unbranched, brown conidiophores. The genus is briefly compared with Dictyochaeta and other similar hyphomycetes.

A stalked, cyphelloid basidiomycete from Kenya described as Stipitocyphella keniensis gen. et sp. nov. is illustrated. Possible relationships of this species with other basidiomycetes are discussed. Phylogenetic processes during gill and basidioma formation are proposed.

This listing covers the period July 1, 1997 through to August 31, 1997. Citations are arranged in groups which roughly correspond with the British Mycological Society's Special Interest Committees. All correspondence about this item should be addressed to the Executive Editor. Reprints of this feature will not be available.

A new dematiaceous hyphomycete, Elegantimyces sporidesmiopsis gen. et sp. nov., is described from decaying wood submerged in a stream in Hong Kong. It produces predominantly 3-septate, obclavate, versicoloured, solitary conidia at the apex of the sympodially regenerating conidiophores. The apical cell of the conidia is unique in becoming a sympodially proliferating conidiogenous cell producing an Idriella-like synanamorph. Conidial secession in this fungus is rhexolytic. Elegantimyces is compared with Sporidesmium bifasciatum, S. tropicale and S. urceolatum which also produce Idriella-like synanamorphs.

Ascotricha hispanica sp. nov. is described and illustrated. It is characterized by ostiolate ascomata with a translucent peridium and subdichotomously branched setae, cylindrical asci and oblate ascospores with an equatorial germ slit. It is compared with related species.

Three new antineoplastic natural products, combretastatin A-4, dolastatin 10 and halichondrin B, have been evaluated for their antimicrotubule activity in Uromyces appendiculatus urediniospore germlings using indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. In control germlings microtubules were abundant and mostly oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cell. The microtubule cytoskeleton of germlings treated with 1·3×10−5M (10 μg ml−1) dolastatin 10 and 4·5×10−5M (50 μg ml−1) halichondrin B disrupted the microtubule cytoskeleton resulting in the near elimination of microtubule-associated fluorescence. Combretastatin A-4 was less effective, requiring a concentration of 3·2×10−3M (1·0 mg ml−1) to disrupt the microtubule cytoskeleton. These effective doses are consistent with previously examined antimicrotubule agents (e.g. nocodazole, griseofulvin, vincristine sulphate, demecolcine).

The effect of increasing culture age on cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and cell surface electrostatic charge (measured as zeta potential) of conidia from five isolates of Coniothyrium minitans representing three different morphological types was examined. Conidial CSH of three isolates (A2 960/1, CH1 and CH2) decreased with culture age, whereas CSH of two others (B 1300/2 and IMI 134523) remained high for the whole 42 day experimental period. In contrast, cell surface electrostatic charge decreased uniformly in conidia of all five isolates for the first 34 d and then rose slightly at 42 d. The variation in cell surface electrostatic charge (spectrum width) of the sampled conidia decreased with age for all five isolates. In all five isolates cell surface electrostatic charge of conidia became increasingly negative as the pH of the buffer used to suspend conidia was increased from pH 3·0 to 9·0. No relationship between colony morphology of C. minitans and conidial CSH and cell surface electrostatic charge was found.

Minimidochium parvum sp. nov. is described from floating litter collected in polluted water from the Rio Santiago.

Beauveria spp. from New Zealand were compared with isolates from other countries using morphological and genetic methods. The New Zealand isolates could be divided into B. bassiana and B. brongniartii based on conidial dimensions; isolates with conidia longer than 3 μM were classified as B. brongniartii, isolates with shorter, spherical conidia were B. bassiana. RAPD analyses using 10 random primers and scoring 330 bands divided isolates into four large groups: a heterogeneous B. bassiana/B. brongniartii group from New Zealand and other countries, a group containing only New Zealand B. bassiana, a group of only B. brongniartii from both New Zealand and overseas, and a group of other Beauveria species (B. velata, B. caledonica, B. amorpha and B. vermiconia). Restriction digestion of the internal transcribed spacer regions of the nuclear rDNA supported the existence of a genetically distinct New Zealand group of B. bassiana isolates, separating these from a heterogeneous group of B. bassiana and B. brongniartii.