AuthorIngold, C.T.
Year1975
TitleGuide to Aquatic Hyphomycetes
ISBN900386 22
SeriesScientific Publication
TypeBook/Report
How CompleteMost species from around the world, as known at the time. Obviously the UK species are best known.
SourceScientific Publication, No. 30, 96pp, Freshwater Biological Association
IllustrationsLine drawings accompany the text, plus a few half-tone photomicrographs
Review (by Malcolm Storey)

Despite the title, this guide is concerned with the aero-aquatic (or "Ingoldian") hyphomycetes, the mould fungi which grow under water but produce spores (asexual conidia) on the water surface. These spores have characteristic shapes - often tetrahedral - that enable them to adhere to the surface film. A downside of this is that they get trapped and concentrated in the foam that builds up below waterfalls and rapids in streams. This is a guide to the identification of spores found in such foams.

The guide is essentially a picture book or atlas of spores of aero-aquatic fungi from all over the world. Three charts of spore drawings of representative species lead to species entries where related species can be considered.

The author, Prof Ingold, discovered them and is commemorated in their other name.

Examine Compound Microscope
Specimen PreparationFoam samples should be killed on collection with FAA etc to prevent germination that otherwise occurs as soon as a solid surface is encountered. Otherwise examine fresh. Microscope preparations in water, lactic acid or lactophenol may be examined under phase contrast or stained with cotton blue, although they only stain weakly.
Identification difficultyFairly straightforward, although the differences are often subtle. Remember to count septa, not just look at general appearance. You will often find conidia that are not included.

Notes & PurposeStatusTaxonEnglishClassification
For identification, Aquatic anamorphic formsSupersededASCOMYCOTAspore shooters, ascomyceteFungi
For identificationSuperseded[Hyphomycetes]mouldsFungi
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioInfo website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.

BioInfo - Wildlife Information (UK)