HISTORY OF TAXONOMIC MYCOLOGY IN BELARUS:
A BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY

Erysiphales

Powdery mildew fungi is the most studied order of ascomycetes in Belarus in aspect of recording.

The oldest data on powdery mildews possibly belonged to Belarus area are three species from the genus Alphitomorpha – A. communis, A. guttata, and A. macularis – mentioned in the book by Jundziłł (1830). Two species, Sphaerotheca castagnei and Erysiphe galeopsidis, found in Belarus part of Belavezhskaya Pushcha, plus Microsphaera astragali, with unclear data on localities, were published in the paper by Błoński (1889). In the next work (1889) Błoński listed 10 species.

Some data on Belarusian ascomycetes occurred in the year-book on plant diseases and damage, published in St-Petersburg. For example, Erysiphe martii and E. polygoni, observed in Novogrudok uezd (Jaczewski, 1907: 55). Six species were identified by Schembel (1913) among specimens collected near Minsk.

Not numerous records were published in 1920s and 1930s: 6 species in an expedition account by Wyssotzky et al. (1925), 10 species in a list by Lebedeva (1925, Zweites...), 4 species in Nestertschuk (1927); 5 species in a paper by Kuprevich (1931, Fungi...), 18 species in a list by Tupenevitch (1932, Die parasitischen…), 4 species in a list by Lebedeva (1935), 18 species from Valkavysk vicinity in the paper by Tumiłowiczówna (1935).

Erysiphales attacking fabaceous herbs, mosty cultivated species, were studied by workers of the Academy of Sciences. A description of Erysiphe communis f. lupini was published by Chekalinskaya (1958). Later E. communis was described in Doroznkin and Chekalinskaya (1965). Various specialized forms of this species were discussed in Dorozhkin et al. (1978, Fabaceous…). The overview of the identified MSK herbarium samples includes 9 species of the Erysiphales (Belomesyatseva & Shabashova, 2006: 347–349).

The data on the Erysiphales were included in publications by Sof'ya Gorlenko on ornamental and flower plants parasites, especially occurring in Central Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences (Minsk): 4 species were listed in Gorlenko (1966); 11 species were discussed in Gorlenko and Pan'ko (1967); 10 species were briefly described in a pocket handbook on ornamental plants diseases, without information on their geography (Gorlenko, 1969); 9 species were discussed in a book by Gorlenko and Pan'ko (1972); 12 species were discussed and described in Gorlenko et al. (1988); 5 species were described and 2 of them illustrated by Gorlenko et al. (1990).

A series of papers with record data on the Erysiphales were published by workers of Botany Department, Belarusian State University: 16 species were reported by Kudryasheva and Stefanovich (1965); 6 species were discussed by Kudryasheva (1972); 19 species were reported for Brest City and vicinity by Stefanovich and Shukanov (1978); 8 species of Sphaerotheca were described by Shukanov and Stefanovich (1981), with an accent on microstructures morphometrics, including the differences in dimensions for the fungi from various host; 9 species were recorded by Stefanovich (1984); 25 species were listed, together with their micromorphology data, by Shukanov and Girilovich (1986) for Belarusian State University Botanic Garden and its vicinity; 26 species from central Belarus were published by Shukanov et al. (1988). Besides, Stefanovich (1988) published a brief outline of the Erysiphacea evolution.

The generalized data on powdery mildew fungi collected in Belarus were organized as a checklist deposited in VINITI (Girilovich et al., 1989, annot. publ. 1990). The paper listed 87 species. The most recent survey of all powdery mildews of Belarus was undertaken by Ivan Girilovich in his Candidate thesis (1991). In all 89 species of Erysiphales were listed in the manuscript, from which 8 species were recorded for the first time for the republic. The species morphological descriptions were placed in the dissertation appendix.

Records of the Erysiphales were continued at the Department of Botany: 13 species were reported by Girilovich et al. (1992); 26 species mentioned in the paper by Khramtsov and Lemeza (1996); 5 species were registered by Polyksenova et al. (2000); 21 species were found in Loshytsa Park and Garden complex in Minsk (Girilovich et al., 2002); 39 species were mentioned in the paper by Polyksenova and Stefanovich (2006). A key to 7 Podosphaera species and their morphological diagnoses was published by Girilovich (2000). A list of 66 species identified among collections of 1999 from Belavezhskaya Pushcha was published by Girilovich et al. (2005).

Taxonomic novelties. A new combination Erysiphe gorlenkoi (F.T. Chien) Girilovich et Gulis was published for the taxon Microsphaera gorlenkoi F.T. Chien (Girilovich et al., 2005: 26).