Approximately 120,000 fungal
species are described. If the numerical ratio between vascular plants and fungi
of 1:6 in botanically well-examined regions, like Great Britain, however, is
transferred to a global scale of 270,000 vascular plants, 1.6 million fungi
might exist. That is, so far only about 10°A) of the actual fungal species are
described (Anonymous 1992b).
Robson (1999) even estimated 3 million fungal
species. Nomenclature regulates the constitution of names, their validity,
legitimacy andpriority or synonymy, and maintains a single correct name for
each taxon (International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, St. Louis Code 2000).
In view of the author names for fungi, these have to be only abbreviated when
more than two letters are saved. Names are always abbreviated between a consonant
and a vowel. The abbreviation should not cause confusion with other names.
Contractions by omission of letters are avoided. Sanctioned names are indicated
with "Fr." or "Pers." after the author of the first valid
publication. An example might be shown by Trametes versicolor (L.: Fr.) Pilat
(Table 2.10) (Jahn 1990). "(L.: Fr.) Pillar means that Linne (L.)
described the fungus with the name Boletus versicolor in "Species
plantarum" in 1753. Fries (Fr.) included it as Polyporus versicolor in
"Systema mycologicum" in 1821 that is the epithet
"versicolor" was protected (sanctioned). Pilat placed it in the genus
Trametes in 1939. Particularly French mycologists prefer Coriolus versicolor
(L.: Fr.) Quelet, because the French author included the fungus in this genus
in 1886.
Quelet, because the French author included the fungus in this genus in
1886. In the various national colloquial languages and even within a state,
different names are used. For the classification of fungi, there are different
attempts of artificial and natural systems. The various groups of fungi have
little in common, except the heterotrophy for carbon, that they are Eukaryotes,
possess a slightly dif-ferentiated tissue, and exhibit in at least one period
of life cell walls as well as spores as resting and distributing forms.
Only
for practical reasons they are nevertheless united. Multi-kingdom systems (Whittacker
1969) consider the polyphyletic origin of the fungi by attaching the slime
fungi and "lower fungi" to the Protista and the "higher
fungi" to the Fungi, but break thereby the tra-ditional biological and
ecological term fungus. A generally recognized fungal classification system
does not exist, and it was ironically argued that there might be as many
systems as there are systematists.
Due to new knowledge, and depending on the
priority, which is attached to a certain characteristic, taxonomic revisions
occur in the classification system as well as changes of fungal naming (names
of wood fungi: e.g., Larsen and Rentmeester 1992; Rune and Koch 1992). Current
names are shown in Appendix 2. The coarse grouping in Table 2.11 is based on
Muller and Loeffler .
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