Meliolales of India, Vol. II

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. The order meliolales. 3. Armatellaceae. 4. Meliolaceae. 5. Key to the species. 6. Descriptions to the species: i. The genus Amazonia. ii. The genus Appendiculella. iii. The genus Armatella. iv. The genus Asteridiella. v. The genus Basavamyces. vi. The genus Ectendomeliola. vii. The genus Irenopsis. viii. The genus Meliola. ix. The genus Prataprajella. 7. Nomenclature. Discussion. Bibliography. Host index. Species index.

From the preface: "I started working on meliolaceous fungi in the year 1981. Till then, about seventy species were known in India. Subsequently, an intensive survey of these fungi in the Western Ghats have enriched our knowledge and raised their number to 378, with an additional genus Prataprajella (Hosagoudar, 1992, 1996). Subsequently, a new family Armatellaceae (Hosagoudar, 2003a) has been added and the Beeli formula was modified to include the maximum number of characters to identify the genera (Hosagoudar, 2003b). The genus Basavamyces (Biju et al. 2005) and Ectendomeliola (Hosagoudar and Agarwal, 2006) have been added to this group. To streamline the work, I felt that it is timely to provide a supplement to the Meliolates of India (Hosagoudar, 1996). To maintain the uniformity, the Beeli formula used in the Monograph has been slightly modified for the genera Basavamyces and Armatella. Each taxon is supplemented with notes regarding their identity. Under the material examined, first cited material is the type in HCIO and the TBGT material is isotype. Subsequently mentioned materials reveal an extended distribution or mere collections.

From the foreword: "It is accepted that only 5-10% of the extant species have been discovered and named. Fungi constitute a major proportion of the undescribed biota and are crucial for the maintenance of ecological process and well-being of the human. Without fungi plants will suffer for nutrient, animals will be without food, woody litter and the litter in totality will not be degraded, insects will not digest plant materials and to maintain texture and structure of the soil, fungi are needed. These are the source of antibiotics, food, drinks, industrial chemicals, enzymes, as a bio-agent to control weeds and pests, carriers, non-green revolution is a topic in the developing tropical countries. Other fungi are plant pathogens, toxin producers, and cause skin, nail and hair diseases among animals, food spoilage agents, biodeteriorating agents and buildings.

About 1,20,000 fungi are named in contrast to the estimated 15,00,000 species. Not even a single site in the world has been thoroughly surveyed for fungi. In the temperate regions, the number of fungi is estimated six times more than the higher plants and 2500 to 3000 species can be found in 200 hectares of land if the specialists of all groups work for more than 25 years. In contrast to the temperate, tropical regions are much richer."