Natural occurrence of ampelomyces intracellular mycoparasites in mycelia of powdery mildew fungi.

This is the first extensive investigation that quantifies natural mycoparasitic relationships in the phyllosphere. The presence of Ampelomyces spp. was quantified in naturally occurring powdery mildew fungi collected in Hungary and Romania between 1992 and 1995. A total of 570 samples was studied representing 27 species (nine genera) of the Erysiphaceae infecting 41 host plant genera. The incidence of Ampelomyces spp., determined as the proportion of samples in which intracellular pycnidia were present, varied between 4.3 and 68.8% in the host fungal genera studied. The intensity of mycoparasitism, defined as a percentage of the powdery mildew mycelia parasitized by Ampelomyces, ranged from 0.15 to 65%. Both the incidence and the intensity of mycoparasitism showed the lowest values in Blumeria graminis (DC.) Speer collected from wild and cultivated monocotyledons, while the highest values were found in Arthrocladiella mougeotii (Lév.) Vassilkov infecting Lycium halimifolium Mill. plants. The paper reports for the first time the natural occurrence of Ampelomyces in Sawadaea bicornis (Wallr.∶Fr.) Homma on maple.