VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Nematophagous Resupinate Basidiomycetous Fungi. S. S. Tzean, Department of Plant Pathology and Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 10617, Republic of China; J. Y. Liou, Department of Plant Pathology and Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 10617, Republic of China. Phytopathology 83:1015-1020. Accepted for publication 4 June 1993. Copyright 1993 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-83-1015.

Eighteen species of resupinate fungi belonging to Hyphoderma (Corticiaceae) attacked and consumed nematodes by two different mechanisms. Seven Hyphoderma spp. (H. baculorubrense, H. guttuliferum, H. macronatum, H. praetermissum, H. puberum, H. rude, and H. tenue) used adhesive stephanocysts to adhere to, capture, infect, and destroy their prey, whereas 11 Hyphoderma spp. (H. albicans, H. amoenum, H. heterocystidium, H. medioburiensis, H. mutatum, H. obtusiforme, H. pallidum, H. populneum, H. radula, H. setigerum, and H. typhicola) lacked stephanocysts and destroy and consumed mycophagous nematodes after they ingested the fungal mycelium. Electron microscopy showed that the stephanocysts possess dolipore septa and are coated with fibrous mucilage, which thickens and becomes pad-shaped upon contact with the nematode's cuticle. Infection pegs, arising from a short protuberance, penetrate the host by a combination of mechanical and enzymatic activities. Profuse trophic hyphae break out of the nematode and form a new crop of stephanocysts.