Taxaonomic Studies On The Thermophilic Fungi From China

Thermophilic fungi are those that have a growth temperature maximum at 50℃or above and a temperature minimum of 20℃or higher. With little or no growth occurring at ordinary laboratory temperatures and good growth and vigorous competition in a mixed microbial population being ensured only at temperatures above the ordinary range, thermophilic fungi will not be encountered unless temperatures are artificially raised to a marked extent. Compared with the other fungi, little was done for thermophilic fungi. With more studies on the high temperature organisms, thermophilic fungi has became key researches in the organism studies. About 50 thermophilic fungi species have been recorded, and more than 30 have been found in China. The dissertation described the thermophilic fungi in China, mainly with the morphology and distribution of thermophilic fungi .We have collected more than 400 specimens from 8 provinces in China, and discovered quite a few new and noteworthy taxa. In this study, 21 taxa were described and illustrated. Among them, 1 taxon was identified as new species , It was Thermoascus hainanense.6 species were newly recorded for China, they were Talaromyces byssochlamydioides,Humicola hyalothermophila, Gilmaniella thermophila, Thielavia terrestris, Chaetomium virginicum and Myriococcum thermophilum. 2 species were newly recorded in Chinese main land, they were Thermoascus aurantiacus and Myceliophthora hinnulea.8 species having been previously reported from China were redescribed and discussed, i.e. Talaromyces emersonii, Penicillium dupontii, Thermoascus aurantiacus var.levisporus, Scytalidium thermophilum, Malbranchea cinnamomea, Thermomyces Lanuginosus, Chaetomium thermophilum and Rhizomucor pusillus.4 thermotolerant species were Gelasinospora sp., Phytophthora sp., Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus .The main results of this dissertation and some valuable taxonomic viewpoints concerning with this fungal group were concluded as follow:1. Besides one new species, new record species discovered, we counted the habits and distributions of the species respectively, discussed and summarized the similar species. 2. Thermophile should be regarded as the main identification character base at species level among same genus.3. The taxonomic criteria used in the identification of thermophilic fungi are ascoma ,appendage,asci, ascospore; conidiophores and conidia.