HISTORY OF TAXONOMIC MYCOLOGY IN BELARUS:
A BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY

Ascomycota except of Erysiphales and lichenized taxa

The oldest known record of ascomycete from Belarus is a morel mentioned under the name Phallus esculentus L. in the list by Meier (1786, publ. 1901). In the book by Jundziłł (1830) there are species entries for 18 discomycetes with macroscopic fruitbodies and for 37 other ascomycetes. Seven discomycetes and 6 species of other ascomycetes from the genera Claviceps, Hypoxylon, Phyllachora, and Xylaria were published by Błoński (1888) for Belavezhskaya Pushcha, nowaday Belarus part. Fifteen rhytismatoid fungi and discomyces from the same area, plus 3 species with unclear data on localities, were listed by Błoński in the subsequent paper (1889). Nine species, plus 5 species with insufficien data on distribution, from the genera Claviceps, Cordyceps, Hypocrea, Hypomyces, Hypoxylon, Nectria, Rhopographus, Ustulina, and Xylaria were listed in the same paper.

Some data on Belarus ascomycetes occurred in the year-book on plant diseases and damage, published in St-Petersburg. For example, Claviceps purpurea (Jaczewski, 1907: 43), Exoascus pruni (ibid.: 119), Gnomonia erythrostoma (ibid.: 121), Lophodermium pinastri (ibid.: 187).

Three pyrenomycete species from the genera Mamiania, Phyllachora, Xylaria, and 3 discomycete species were found by Dorogin (1912) in Belavezhskaya Pushcha. Schembel (1913) published 13 species from the genera Claviceps, Lophodermium, Mycosphaerella, Nectria, Phyllachora, Plowrightia, Rhytisma, Sclerotinia, Taphrina, and Venturia, collected near Minsk. Six species from the genera Biatorella (now Sarea), Claviceps, Nectria, Rhytisma, and Xylaria were published by Lebedeva (1925, Erstes...). In the second list Lebedeva (1925, Zweites...) published 14 discomycetes and rhytismatoid species, and 12 other ascomycetes from the genera Bertia, Claviceps, Dophidella, Gnomoniella, Hypoxylon, Nectria, Phyllachora, Polythrincium, Ustulina, and Xylaria, some of them with notations on morphology.

Six species from the genera Dothidella, Epichloë (‘Epichloe'), Fabraea, Rhytisma, Taphrina, and Venturia were identified by Nestertschuk (1927). Four species from the genera Claviceps, Eu-Aspergillus, Eu-Penicillium, Exoascus, and 10 species of the Pezizales were listed by Kuprevich (1931, Fungi...). Four species from the genera Sclerotinia, Septomazzantia, Stictochorella, and Vermicularia were reported by Tupenevitch (1932, Investigations…) on Lupinus. Fourteen species were reported in other paper by Tupenevitch (1932, Die parasitischen…). In 1935 Lebedeva published 2 discomycete species and 3 species from the genera Claviceps, Mamiania, and Valsa. Records of 13 species were done by Tumilowiczówna (1935). She mentioned 1 Taphrina, 5 rhytismatoid fungi and discomycetes, and 7 species from the genera Claviceps, Gnomoniella, Nectria, Phyllachora, Polystigma, Venturia. The taxonomy and morphology of Polythrincium trifolii, with the notation of its occurrence in Belarus, were discussed by Kuprevich (1935).

Illustration of Polythrincium trifolii asci from the paper by Kuprevich (1935)

The papers issued in the 2nd half of 20th century included the data mostly on ascomycetes on agriculatural and ornamental plants. Sclerotinia libertiana was reported by Chekalinskaya (1958). Nectria galligena and its symptoms were described and illustrated by Vinogradova (1958). Five ascomycetes from the genera Dothichiza, Nectria, Taphrina, and Venturia, parasitizing poplars, were identified by Vasil'eva (1966). One species of Taphrina was reported by Gorlenko and Pan'ko (1967). Seven species from the genera Diaporthe, Placosphaeria, Pseudodiscosia, Sclerotinia, and Taphrina were briefly described in a book by Gorlenko (1969), without data on distribution. Coryneum foliicola, Graphium ulmi and Septomyxa negundinis were discussed by Gorlenko and Pan'ko (1972). Novik (1975) reported a teleomorph Calonectria nivalis. Five species of the Helotiales inhabiting conifers were reported and discussed in Candidate thesis abstract by Fedorov (1978). Two Pseudopeziza species, 2 Sclerotinia species, and 3 species from the genera Leptosphaerulina, Placosphaeria, and Polythrincium were discussed in Dorozhkin et al. (1978, Fabaceous…), with illustration of Leptosphaerulina briosiana. Three species from the genera Nectria, Sclerotinia, and Valsa on Rosa were published by Podobnaya (1983). Three species from the genera Pseudopeziza, Slerotinia, and Polythrincium from clover were discussed by Dorozhkin and Nitievskaya (1984, On the specialization…). Two species of the Sclerotiniaceae was discussed by Kupreenko (1987). Twenty-four species growing on introduced arboreous plants were mentioned in a book by Gorlenko et al. (1988), in that number 6 Taphrina and 7 rhytismatoid fungi. The features of Leptosphaerulina trifolii in culture were described by Dorozhkin et al. (1989). Six species from the genera Leptosphaerulina, Pseudopeziza, and Sclerotinia, parasitizing fabaceous herbs, were described in a book by Dorozhkin and Nitievskaya (1990). Korzenok (1990) published 4 species from the genera Cenangium, Herpotrichia, and Lophodermium, inhabiting conifer seedlings in nurseries. Gorlenko et al. (1990) described 5 species from the genera Mycosphaerella, Polythrincium, Pseudopeziza, and Whetzelinia. Six clover root-inhabiting species of the genus Chaetomium were reported by Kornei and Nitievskaya (1993, Fungi…). Two species from the genera Talaromyces and Chaetomium were discussed by Kornei and Nitievskaya (1993, Micromycetes…). Three species of the Venturiaceae and single Leptostroma species were reported from cultivated cowberries by Galynskya (1996). Gorlenko and Buga (1996) listed 7 species from the genera Botryosphaeria, Diaporthe, Gibbera, Glomerella, Godronia, Melanospora, and Monilinia identified as pathogenic on cultured cranberries. Galynskaya and Lyaguskii (1999) reported 6 species from the genera Botryosphaeria, Diaporthe, Dothichiza, Gibbera, Monilia, and Phacidium, parasitizing the Vacciniaceae. Ten species from the genera Claviceps, Epichloë, Nectria, Protomyces, Pseudopeziza, Rhytisma, and Taphrina were recorded by Girilovich et al. (2002) in Loshytsa Park and Garden complex in Minsk. Belomesyatseva (2004, Mycobiota…) listed 45 ascomycete species, including 14 discomycetes, in the monograph devoted to fungi associated with juniper in Belarus. The book includes also original illustrations for 5 species.

Nine discomycete species were described and ilustrated by photographs in Serzhanina and Zmitrovich (1978), 12 in Serzhanina & Zmitrovich (1986). Eight hypogeous fungi from the genera Choiromyces, Elaphomyces, Hydnotrya (‘Hydnotria'), Stephensia, and Tuber were reviewed in a paper by Serzhanina and Gapienko (1980, First finds…). Five of them were reported for the first time for Belarus, and supplied by morphological descriptions. Nine species of the Pezizales were reported by Gapienko (1988) from Asipovichy district. Twenty-eight species were described in a popular book by Serzhanina (1990), including 21 discomycetes. Five species from the genera Hydnotria, Stephensia, Spathularia, and Tuber were decribed, illustrated and mapped in the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Red Data Book (Golovko & Serzhanina, 1993; Gapienko et al., 2005).

Illustration of Aleuria aurantia from a book by Serzhanina and Zmitrovich (1986)	Illustrations of Xylaria polymorpha and Helvella crispa from a book by Serzhanina (1990)

Morphological and physiological characters of several ascomycetous yeasts from the genera Candida, Schizoblastosporion, and Torulopsis, isolated from soils of Belarus, were published by Pristrom (1974).

A notable work contributing 48 new ascomycete species to Belarus mycobiota was a manuscript by Serzhanina (1988, New data…). Later Serzhanina (1991) in a brochures devoted to Belarusian science nomenclature of macrofungi listed 112 species with macroscopic or prominent fruitbodies, including several taxa which are provisory for the country. This list included mainly discomycetes, several pyrenomycetes from the genera Cordyceps, Daldinia, Hypoxylon, Nectria, Nummularia, Ustulina, Xylaria, the Tuberales, and Elaphomyces. The book cataloguing species deposited in MSK herbarium includes 66 operculate and inoperculate discomycetes, 5 species of truffles from the genera Elaphomyces, Hydnotrya, Stephensia, and Tuber, 9 species of the Xylariaceae and 3 other pyrenomycetes from the genera Cordyceps and Nectria (Gapienko & Shaparava, 2006: 252–276, the genus Helotium on p. 144). In other chapter of this book there are 14 species from the genera Chaetomium, Coniochaeta, Endoxyla, Gymnoascus, Pithoascus, Talaromyces, Thielavia, 19 bitunicatae, 8 species of the Rhytismatales, 17 discomycetes, 13 species of the Hypocreales, 2 Valsa, and 4 species of the Xylariales (Belomesyatseva & Shabashova, 2006: 346–365).

Nine species from the genera Hypocrea, Hypomyces, Ophiostoma, and Sporophagomyces (and thier anamorphs), inhabitind macromycetes, were described in the paper by Arnold and Yurchenko (2007). The record were based on collections done in 2004 in central Belarus.

Taxonomic novelties. Only a single new species was based on material from Belarus. Venturia maculicola, collected in Minsk province, near village Ioakhimovo, on living leaves of Vaccinium vitis-idaea, was described and published by Schembel (1913: 698–699; photographs: Taf. 98, fig. 1, 5).