Smut fungi of Ukraine, a checklist*

Savchenko K. G. & Heluta V. P. (2012) Smut fungi of Ukraine, a checklist.

Sydowia 64 (2): 281–300

An overview of the smut fungi in Ukraine is presented based on several years of intensive collections, reexamination of materials from all major Ukrainian herbaria, and critical revision of literature data. All species recorded from the country are listed according to recent nomenclature changes. For each species, the list of host plants on which they were reported is included. Ukrainian smut mycobiota consists of 157 species. Among them, six species, i.e. Anthracoidea buxbaumii, A. caryophylleae, A. echinospora, A, pilosae, A. pseudirregularis, and Entyloma gaillardianum were recorded as new for the country and four species, viz. Entyloma microsporum, Microbotryum tragapogonis-pratensis, Schizonella cocconii, and Vankya ornithogali were found on new hosts. The main genera of smut fungi for Ukraine are Entyloma with 30 spp., Urocystis with 24 spp., Microbotryum with 20 spp., Ustilago with 19 spp., and Anthracoidea with 17 spp. Of 27 genera recorded from Ukraine, 14 genera contain one species each. Furthermore, we compared the composition of smut fungi in Ukraine with those of well-documented adjacent and remote countries using the Tripartite Similarity Index. The results revealed a strong similarity between the smut biota of Ukraine and Central Europe.

Keywords: Anthracoidea, biodiversity, Exobasidiomycetes, Microbotryales, Ustilaginomycetes.