NEMATOPHAGOUS FUNGI FROM AGRICULTURAL SOILS OF CENTRAL-AMERICA

Seventeen agricultural soils from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama wer e surveyed for fungi attacking vermiform nematodes and 13 species of n ematode-trapping fungi were found. The most commonly detected fungus w as Stylopage sp., found in 12 soils. Six endoparasitic species, the mo st common of which was Catenaria anguillulae, were observed in 11 soil s. The soils contained between 1 and 10 fungal species, and the number of specimens varied from 0.1 to 5.1/g soil. The total number of nemat odes varied from 0.9 to 25.5/g soil. There was a correlation between t he number of nematodes and the number of specimens of nematophagous fu ngi found in 1 g of soil (r = 0.78; P less than or equal to 0.001). Th ere was also a correlation between the number of nematodes/g soil and the number of species of nematophagous fungi per soil sample (r = 0.81 ; P less than or equal to 0.001).