HISTORY OF TAXONOMIC MYCOLOGY IN BELARUS:
A BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY

Aphyllophoroid fungi

The oldest known to us datum on aphyllophoroid fungi from Belarus is a fungus mentioned under Russian name ‘gubka yelovaya', observed on juniper stumps (Meier, 1876, publ. 1901), but the exact application of this name is unclear.

Józef Jundziłł described in his book (1830) 81 species, without any locality data. The up-to-date inventory and revision of Jundziłł's botanical collections, summarized in a small monograph by Köhler (1995), showed that the two species of aphyllophoroid fungi were collected by him in the sites situated supposedly in today Belarus, Voranava district: Phlebia tremellosa in 1837 near Sobolewszczyzna farm, and the fungus labelled ‘Clavaria trichopus?' – near Nacza village.

Six polyporoid species were reported by Downar (1861) for Mohilev (Mahilyou) vicinity. Fourty-two species were listed by Błoński (1888) for Belavezhskaya Pushcha, modern Belarus part, and besides 5 species had insufficient data to determine the localities. Thirty-six species plus 18 species with unclear data on distribution were listed in his subsequent paper (1889).

Ten species were published by Kastory (1912) in the work on fungi collected in Vitsebsk and Orsha vicinity. Fifty-one species, mostly polypores, were published by Dorogin (1912). In this paper the author also made notation on morphology of selected species, especially he gave the detailed morphological description of Merulius lacrimans, Polyporus pinicola, and chlamydospores in Polyporus applanatus. Six species collected in Minsk province were published by Schembel (1913).

Wyssotzky et al. (1925) reported 34 aphyllophoroid species. Lebedeva (1925, Erstes...) published 17 species identified among specimens collected by V.P. Savicz, L.I. Savicz-Lyubitskaya, and A.I. Belyaeva in 1923 in central Belarus. In the second annotated list Lebedeva (1925, Zweites...) reported 61 species (including Trogia crispa), several ones with remarks on morphology. In the third list Lebedeva (1935) reported 3 species. Kuprevich (1931, Fungi…) listed 47 species collected in Smalyavichy district. Tupenevitch (1932, Die parasitischen…) reported a herbofilous corticioid fungus Hypochnus solani on Lupinus. Twenty-four species were reported by Tumilowiczówna (1935) for Valkavysk town and its vicinity.

In the fundamental handbook on East-European polypores by Apollinarii Bondartsev (1953) 61 species were referred to Belarus area. Besides, he wrote about 10 species mentioned in the paper by Bresadola ‘Fungi Polonici' (1903) based on collections by W. Eichler made with a probability in today Belarusian part of Belavezhskaya Pushcha.

In 1950s and 1960s both recording of species and strictly taxonomic work on polypores was carried out by Emma Komarova. A taxonomic account on Belarus polyporoid fungi was given in her Candidate thesis abstract (1955), where she listed 123 species. Thirteen polyporoid fungi were reported, 2 of them with morphological description, by Komarova (1957). In two papers (Komarova, 1959, To the systematics…; 1961), she discussed the taxonomy of some polyporoid species and genera. The identification book to polyporoid fungi by Komarova (1964) includes diagnoses of 158 species with commonly poroid or derivative from it hymenophore types or with false pores, micromorphology line drawings for 75 species, and also basidiomata photographs on 44 plates. From the species described in this handbook 137 were found in Belarus, and 3 species reported from Belavezhskaya Pushcha with unclear locality data.

Cover and title page of the book by Komarova (1964)	Line drawings of Piptoporus betulinus hyphae, Hapalopilus croceus spores, and Chaetoporus euporus hymenium from the book by Komarova (1964)	A halftone plate from the book by Komarova (1964)

Two Cantharellus species were reported in a paper by Serzhanina (1959). Twelve aphyllophoroid species were described and illustrated in a pocket guide by Serzhanina and Zmitrovich (1978). Special research into house fungi was done by Alina Golovko, with collections carried out over Belarus. In the first paper on this subject (Golovko, 1966, Some data…) she reported 11 species found indoor on woody constructions, and published morphological descriptions for 5 species. Two brochures on house fungi occurred in Belarus were published by Golovko (1966, Wood destroying…; 1981, House…). In the second broshure (1981, House…) there are morphology descriptions of 13 aphyllophoroid species.

Cover and title page of a brochure by Golovko (1981)

A preliminary outline of Belarus aphyllophoroid fungi species diversity, totally 257 species, was published by Golovko (1968). A list of 168 aphyllophoroid species from Belavezhskaya Pushcha was published by Komarova et al. (1968). Golovko and Komarova (1972) published a list of 113 species collected in 1962, 1964, and 1969 in Byarezinski Biosphere Reserve. Palamarchuk et al. (1974) reported 36 species of polypores occurring in Prypyatski Reserve (southern Belarus). A rare Polyporus species was reported and illustrated by Golovko (1983). The morphology and distribution of 7 Stereum and 1 Amylostereum species were described by Golovko (1988). Kapich and Golovko (1992) reported a list of 55 species found in Minsk district. Seven aphyllophoroid species were described, illustrated, and mapped in the 2nd edition of the Red Data Book (Golovko & Serzhanina, 1993).

A series of publication on Phellinus taxonomy was prepared by Golovko. The first was a comparative study of cultural morphology, chemistry, and physiology of two Phellinus species (Golovko, 1977). Cultural morphology and physiology of 7 species from Ph. igniarius gr. were discussed (Golovko, 1978). The taxonomic status of species and forms was considered (Golovko, 1979, Systematics…). The wood decay dymamics as a distinguishing character for 2 Phellinus species was discussed (Golovko, 1979, The intensity…). The cultural characters of 7 Phellinus species were described in details (Golovko, 1981, De proprietatibus…). The taxonomy of Phellinus alni was regarded (Golovko, 1984), the studied isolates originated from Belarus, Estonia, Russian, and Ukraine. Two aspen-inhabiting Phellinus species were compared in respect to their cultural morphology, chemistry, and physiology (Golovko, 1985).

The long-term studies into the biota of polypores of Belavezhskaya Pushcha Hunt Reserve (later Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park), were carried out by Pavel Mikhalevich. In 1968 he published a list of 109 species with poroid and false poroid hymenophore (Mikhalevich, 1968, Polyporaceae…), and a more complete list he prepared later (Mikhalevich, 1971). The taxonomy of Phellinus igniarius f.  nigricans was discussed by Mikhalevich (1968, Find…). In 1997 Mikhalevich reported 6 rare aphyllophoroid species found in Belavezhskaya Pushcha and its vicinity, supplied them by short morphological descriptions. Kochanovskii in co-authority with Mikhalevich (1972) published a list of 51 species occurred on aspen-tree in Belavezhskaya Pushcha.

Some agricultural crop-inhabiting basidiomycetes and their anamorphs were also discussed by Belarusian workers. Hypochnus solani was described by Dorozhkin and Chekalinskaya (1965), Dorozhkin and Kunevich (1975). One Typhula, 2 Rhizoctonia and 2 Sclerotium species were briefly described in a book by Gorlenko (1969), without data on their geography. Two Typhula species were discussed by Dorozhkin and Novik (1973) and Novik (1975). Hypochnus solani and Typhula trifolii were discussed in Dorozhkin et al. (1978, Fabaceus…). Kornei and Nitievskaya (1993, Micromycetes…) reported Typhula trifolii on clover roots.

Thirteen species from the genera Amaurodon, Pseudotomentella, and Tomentella, collected in southwest Belarus by Erast Parmasto, were published in the monograph by Kõljalg (1996). A new for Belarus polyporoid species Perenniporia narymica was reported by Spirin et al. (2005: 35). A key to 13 species of Peniophora and 1 Dendrophora was published by Yurchenko (2000). A cumulative annotated list, based on literature and herbarium, of non-poroid Aphyllophorales by Yurchenko (2003) demonstrates the data on nomenclature, source of recording for the first time, distribution, and nutritional mode for 281 species with commonly non-poroid or false-poroid hymenophore. The list of 332 species, including 89 polypores, confirmed by critical revision and stored in MSK herbarium, was published by Yurchenko (2006). Twenty-eight exclusively rare for Belarus (known from a single locality) species of corticioid fungi were described and illustrated in two articles by Yurchenko and Kotiranta (2006, 2007).

A part of distribution map for Tomentella ferruginea from Kõljalg (1996), with the data for Belarus accentuated by us in red color

Taxonomic novelties. Four new species, 4 new forms, and two new varieties based on the material from Belarus were proposed. Seventeen new combinations were published by the researchers worked in Belarus.

A new species Polyporus lithuanicus was described by Błoński (1888: 86–87) from several sites of Belavezhskaya Pushcha, including noweday Belarus – in upper course of the Narauka river (Narewka, ‘w str<aze> Okolnickiéj, urocz. Klon'). A new species Polyporus simulans (Błoński, 1889: 75–76) was described from the same area. The location of the third new taxon, Polyporus rostafinskii Błoński (Błoński, 1889: 75, sub nom. ‘Polyporus Rostafinskii'), was possibly also in Belarus part of Pushcha. Błoński (1889: 77) reconsidered and expanded the species diagnosis of Polyporus lithuanicus, simultaneously making for it a new combination Ochroporus lithuanicus. The names O. lithaunicus, P. rostafinskii , and P. simulans were referred by Błoński to Hedwigia 4, 1889.

A series of taxonomical novelties in polyporoid fungi were proposed by Emma Komarova. Her name was abbreviated in various sources as ‘Komarowa', ‘Komar.', and ‘E. Kom.' In the Candidate thesis abstract (1955) she preliminary reported 3 new forms and 1 new variety: Trametes suaveolens f. bondarzewii (p. 15), Tyromyces albellus f. kuprewiczii (p. 14), T. resinascens f. macroporus (p. 14), and Xylodon vesiporus var. microporus (p. 13). The differences of these new taxa from the typical specimens of the appropriate species were briefly described (Komarova, 1955: 17). The taxa Trametes suaveolens f. bondarzewii and Tyromyces albellus f. kuprewiczii were validly published later, but under another names: Trametes suaveoles f. griseopora and Tyromyces albellus f. aurantiacus. In 1959 she published description of the taxon ‘Abortiporus fractipes (Berk. et Curt.) Bond. comb. nova' (Komarova, 1959, To the systematics…: 251–252), hence the correct authority formulation must be A. fractipes (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Bondartsev in Komarova. In the same work she described, with Latin diagnoses, 4 new varieties collected in 1954 in Belarus: Trametes suaveoles f.  griseopora (p. 256–257, collected near Borovlyany, Borisov district), Tyromyces albellus f. aurantiacus (p. 254–255, Latin diagnosis on p. 254, collected near Dyatlovichi and Kupovtsy, Luninets district), T. resinascens f.  macroporus (p. 255–256, Latin diagnosis on p. 255, collected near Borovlyany, Borisov district, Dyatlovichi, Luninets district, and Pererov, Pruzhany district), and Xylodon versiporus var. microporus (p. 252–254, Latin diagnosis on p. 252–253, collected near Dyatlovichi, Lunin, Zamosh'e in Luninets district, Makanovichi in Vasilevichi district and Borovlyany in Borisov district). A new species Tyromyces pseudohoehnelii Bondartsev & Komarova was published in 1959 (Komarova, 1959, New…), with locus classicus near Pererovskii Mlynok (Turov district).

In the handbook on Belarus polyporoid fungi Komarova (1964) proposed 12 new combinations: Ceraporia purpurea (Fr.) Komarova (p. 49), C. taxicola (Pers.) Komarova (p. 49–50), Coriolus cinerascens (Bres.) Komarova (p. 143–144), C. salicinus (Bres.) Komarova (p. 145), C. serialis (Fr.) Komarova (p. 142–143), Fomes crassus (P. Karst. sensu Pilát) Komarova (p. 193–194), F. stellae (Pilát) Komarova (p. 194–195), F. unitus (Pers.) Komarova (p. 191–192), Oxyporus pearsonii (Pilát) Komarova (p. 179), Spongipellis fractipes (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Komarova (p. 120–121), Tyromyces gilvellus (Pilát) Komarova (p. 104–105), T. hoehnelii (Bres.) Komarova (p. 98–99). Besides, Tyromyces aurantiacus Komarova (p. 89) should be regarded as a new combination for Tyromyces albellus f. aurantiacus Komarova. In the Index Fungorum two more combinations are treated as introduced by Komarova: Fomes unitus var. multistratosus (Pilát) Komarova and F. unitus var. pulchellus (Schwein.) Komarova. They were cited in Komarova's book (1964) as var. multistratosus Pilát (p. 192–193) and var. pulchellus (Schwein.) Bourdot & Galzin (p. 193), respectively. The taxa proposed in 1964 were supplied by Russian descriptions only and no basionym names were indicated separately.

After critical examination of Tyromyces pseudohoehnelii holotype (MSK 3636) this name stated to be a synonym of Irpex semisupiniformis (Murrill) Saarenoksa & Kotiranta (Spirin & Zmitrovich, 2003: 76).