Associations and interactions between species of organisms are phenomena shared by all living things. What varies is the extent to which the more long-lasting interactions are beneficial or destructive to a given species and the degree of intimacy and reliance which one organism may have developed in association with another. Many of the more highly evolved relationships that have been studied involve microorganisms, either in consort with other microorganisms or with so-called higher forms of life. Mycologists are rarely surprised-but often fascinated-by the variety of kinds of living substrates and specialized organismal relationships that evolutionary processes have produced among the fungi. The present book deals in some detail with the specialized dependence of a unique group of fungi, the trichomycetes, upon certain arthropods. There has been no comprehensive and worldwide treatment of the tri chomycetes since their discovery by Joseph Leidy in 1848. The literature is scattered and in several languages, and many articles are now not only a bit old but out of date as well. As in many areas of biology, our knowledge about trichomycetes has increased somewhat exponentially in recent years.

The book has been divided into two parts. Part I comprises review chapters on trichomycetes - including the history, taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography ultrastructure, and physiology of trichomycetes. Part II comprises a composite of topics. It begins with two chapters on insect-fungus associations (ant pathogenic fungi and bark beetle galleries) fo

This is an exciting time to produce an overview of the systematics and evolution of the fungi. Molecular and subcellular characters have given us our first view of the true phylogeny of the fungi. The systematic chapters present detailed illustrated treatments of specific fungal groups with the authors' interpretation of the systematics of that group as well as a survey of specific economic, ecological, morphological, ultrastructural, molecular and cultural data. Other chapters, in addition to treating techniques useful in modern mycology, provide the reader with views of the place of the fungi among the Eukaryotes and relationships within the Mycota. Volume VII, Part A, includes an overview of the fungal hierarchy, Pseudomycota, Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota and their yeasts, and anamorphic states. Volume VII, Part B, includes the Basidiomycota and their yeasts, and chapters on speciation, molecular evolution, preservation, computer techniques, and nomenclature.