Taxonomy, distribution and statistical ecology of black mildews fungi reported from Maharashtra state of India

Abstract. Dubey R, Moonambeth N, Pandey AD. 2022. Taxonomy, distribution and statistical ecology of black mildew fungi reported from Maharashtra state of India. Asian J For 6: 97-125. The Maharashtra state of India represents some of the best non-equatorial tropical forests in the world. It supports many endemic species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, especially in the Western Ghats, India. Moreover, a research project entitled "Foliicolous fungi of Maharashtra" was allotted by the Botanical Survey of India, Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate change, India, to carry out the mycological studies. As part of this project, ongoing studies were carried out on black mildew fungi of this state. The present studies offer a taxonomic account, distribution, and ecological parameters of 72 black mildew taxa collected from different areas of Maharashtra state of India. The present study provides three new records of fungi to India, 31 new host records to India, 40 new records of fungi to the Maharashtra state of India, and one new variety, viz., Asterina jasmini Hansf. var. koyani var.nov., depicted by checklist and Figures. In addition, a comprehensive table containing information on location, date of collection, name of the collector, and new records are given for ready reference. During this study, Meliola was the dominant genus with 35 species, whereas Meliolina mollis was the dominant taxon obtained from a maximum of 5 collections. More than 90% of black mildew species are collected from the Western Ghats Districts. In diversity indices, Gini-Simpson's was 0.9818, and Shannon's was 4.1668. Pielou's evenness index was 0.9743, causing true diversity, calculated as an effective number of species (64), to be less than observed species richness (72).