Fungi Fimicoli Italici - Mycosphere-online journal

The microscopic characteristics of species
from damp chambers were studied on fresh
material, those of species collected from the
field were usually studied on dried material,
using water, Congo red, Melzer's reagent, lactic
cotton blue (or methyl blue), and Indian ink as
mounting media.
All Basidiomycetes and most Ascomycetes
were preserved as dried material or,
exceptionally, as slides in the author's personal
herbarium (CLSM) or rarely in herbarium of
Pisa Botanical Garden (PI). Chaetomium murorum,
Cleistothelebolus nipigonensis, and Rodentomyces
reticulatus were also preserved as
living cultures (PI)
Results
In my monograph on coprophilous fungi
from Italy (Doveri 2004a) I described 81 taxa
332
of Basidiomycota and 214 of Ascomycota
growing both in the natural state or in damp
chamber cultures. Since then my research has
continued resulting in many publications
(Doveri 2004b, 2005, 2006, 2007a,b, 2008a,b,c,
2010a,b, Doveri et al. 2005, 2010a,b, Doveri &
Coué 2008a) reporting 43 additional species (5
Basidiomycota; 38 Ascomycota) new to Italy,
13 of which are described in this work, and one
genus (Rodentomyces Doveri et al.), four
species (Podospora alexandri Doveri, Sporormiella
hololasia Doveri, Thecotheus neoapiculatus
Doveri & Coué, Coprinellus mitrinodulisporus
Doveri & Sarrocco), one variety
(Tripterosporella heterospora var. octaspora
Doveri) and one form (Thecotheus formosanus
f. collariatus Doveri & Coué) new to science
(Table 1).
badger (Meles meles) goose (Anser sp.) porcupine (Hystrix cristata)
beech marten (Martes faina) hare (Lepus sp.) rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
bird (various, except for Anser sp.) hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) rat (Rattus rattus)
cattle (Bos taurus) horse (Equus caballus) rock goat (Capra ibex ibex)
chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) insect (various) roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)
deer (Cervus elaphus) lizard (Lacerta sp.) sheep (Ovis aries)
dog (Canis familiaris) marmot (Marmota marmota) snail (Helix sp.)
donkey (Equus asinus) marten (Martes martes) squirrel (Sciurus sp.)
dormouse (Glis glis) mouflon (Ovis musimon) toad (Bufo sp.)
fallow deer (Dama dama) mouse (Mus musculus) tortoise (Testudo sp.)
ferret (Mustela furo) mule (Equus mulus) weasel (Putorius nivalis)
fox (Vulpes vulpes) ostrich (Struthio camelus) wild pig (Sus scrofa)
gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) wolf (Canis lupus)
goat (Capra hircus) polecat (Putorius foetidus)
I have recorded, at present, 544 collections
of 92 Basidiomycota species from 722
dung samples in Italy.
303 records of 88 species came from 303
samples detected and identified in the field,
listed as substrate sources, but not cultured. All
but two (Sebacina epigaea; Sphaerobolus
stellatus) are Agaricales, whose occurrence in
Italy has recently been reported (Doveri 2010
b). The overall picture is unchanged, so I limit
myself to summarise the results (Tables 2–3)
and refer to that work for details.
I have recorded, at present, 2312 collections
of 256 Ascomycota species from Italy.
573 records of 156 species came from samples
detected and identified in the field. Leaving out
29 records from unidentified animals, most
findings (96%) were made on bovine (27%),
cervine (23%), equine (18%), leporine (13%),
ovine (12%), and caprine (3%) dung, the
remaining 4% on dung of other animals, with a
slight preponderance of pyrenomycetes s.l.
(53%) on discomycetes (45%), and with a
marked preponderance of Sporormiella (19%),
followed by Ascobolus Pers. (8%), Lasiobolus
Sacc. (8%), Sordaria Ces. & De Not. (8%),
Cheilymenia Boud. (7%), Podospora Ces.,
(7%), and Schizothecium Corda (7%). The
preference for bovine dung is marked (72%) in
Cheilymenia, slighter in Ascobolus (29%) and
Schizothecium (20%), while a preference for
cervine dung is manifest in Lasiobolus (38%),
Sporormiella (30%) and Podospora (29%), for
leporine dung (36%) in Sordaria.
Another 432 dung samples of 42 animal
species were cultured in damp chambers and