Black Mildew fungi of Andaman Islands, India

Abstract

Black mildews are the leaf dwelling obligate parasites (Biotrophs) mostly infect leaves but also on stem, petiole and in some cases on fruits also. They are known as “black mildews”, as they produce black colonies that are composed of dark, thick-walled, branched, superficial hyphae (Rodriguez Justavino et al. 2015). These hyphae carry numerous short, lateral branches called hyphopodia. They appear a month or two after the monsoon but are scanty during summer and abundant during winter season. Taxonomically, black mildews or black colony forming parasitic fungi belong to several taxonomic groups, namely, Hyphomycetes (conidial fungi), Meliolales, Asterinales, Englerulaceae, Meliolinaceae, etc. This Paper enumerates an account of 99 taxa of Black Mildews among 15 genera belonging to eight families, collected from various forest localities of Andaman Islands.