Five new species of Inocybe (Agaricales) from tropical India.

Five new species of Inocybe, I. iringolkavensis, I. keralensis, I. kuruvensis, I. muthangensis and I. wayanadensis, are described from Kerala state, India, based on morphological and molecular data. All are associated with trees belonging to Dipterocarpaceae. Inocybe iringolkavensis is characterized by nodulose to somewhat stellate basidiospores, 1-4-spored basidia, and caulocystidia restricted to the stipe apex. Inocybe keralensis has a yellowish brown pileus, lamellae with whitish, serrate edges, smooth, ellipsoidal basidiospores and a duplex pileipellis with the superficial hyphae devoid of encrustations and encrusted hyphae beneath. The diagnostic features of I. kuruvensis include a dark brown pileus, stipe with a whitish base and grayish brown, floccose-fibrillose surface, nodulose basidiospores with saddle-shaped projections and faintly encrusted paracystidia with refractive contents. Violet basidiomata with a rimose, hygrophanous pileus, densely pruinose stipe with a marginate-bulbous base, and nodulose basidiospores are the major features of I. muthangensis. Inocybe wayanadensis is characterized by small, whitish basidiomata, a viscid pileus with a rimulose surface, a densely pruinose and fibrillose stipe with a marginate-bulbous base, nodulose basidiospores, thick-walled pleuro- cheilo- and caulocystidia and an ixotrichoderm-type pileipellis. The phylogenetic relationships of these new species are inferred from an analysis of nuc rDNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and the 28S gene. Except I. keralensis, which belongs to the Pseudosperma clade, all other species belong to the Inocybe clade. This study represents the second report of an Inocybe species (I. muthangensis) that combines violet basidiomata with nodulose basidiospores.

Isolation and in vitro cultivation of Auriculoscypha anacardiicola D.A. Reid et Manim., an insect-associated and potentially medicinal fungus from India.

Auriculoscypha anacardiicola, an obligate insect-associate and a potential medicinal fungus, is isolated and studied in vitro. Suitable methods for isolation and cultivation of the fungus have been developed. Incubating spore deposits made to fall from basidiomata on tap water agar seems to be the best method for developing cultures. Successful isolations were also accomplished from infected coccids. Cultures could not be developed from single basidiospores and from tissues of the basidiomata. Although production of ballistospores and blastospores as well as germ tube formation were observed at the time of germination of basidiospores, budding blastospores alone produced mycelial cultures. Observations such as the inability of single basidiospores to germinate, emergence of mycelium from a spore deposit, and the apparent conjugation of yeast cells indicate that dikaryotization resulting from fusion of compatible yeast cells is essential for development of mycelium in A. anacardiicola. The fungus grew well on all complex media tested. It seems that a purely synthetic medium devoid of any growth factors cannot support the growth ofA. anacardiicola and yeast extract seems to provide the required growth factors.