Marine Mycology

Book excerpt: Marine Mycology: The Higher Fungi deals with the higher marine fungi, i.e., Ascomycotina, Basidiomycotina, and Deuteromycotina. This book combines features of a monograph with those of a text. It includes sections on ecological groups of fungi and other topics, such as phylogeny, ontogeny, physiology, and vertical and geographical distribution, providing information on known facts and open questions. The taxonomic-descriptive part contains complete descriptions of each genus and species, together with substrates, range, etymology of generic and specific names, and literature. There are keys for all species within a given genus, and a general illustrated key leads to the individual species. The taxonomic section is based on examinations of almost all of the filamentous marine fungi, and unpublished data on new hosts and geographical distributions are included for many species. The filamentous higher marine fungi are represented by 149 Ascomycetes, 4 Basidiomycetes, and 56 Deuteromycetes. The majority, namely 191 (91%) of the filamentous fungi, are obligately marine species, whereas the remainder are facultatively marine. One new species and seven new combinations are proposed. The yeasts are treated in a separate chapter and comprise 177 species or varieties.