Biodiversity of manglicolous fungi on selected plants in the Godavari and Krishna deltas, East coast of India

The examination of decaying mangrove materials belonging to 9 host plant sp ecies collected from Godavari and Krishna deltas (Andhra Pradesh), east coa st of India from August, 1993 to November, 1995 resulted in the identificat ion of 88 fungi. These include 65 Ascomycetes (74%), one Basidiomycete and 22 Mitosporic fungi (25%) (including 6 Coelomycetes and 16 Hyphomycetes). A mong the 9 plants examined, maximum number of species (64) were recorded fr om Rhizophora apiculata, followed by Avicennia officinalis (55), A. marina (45), Excoecaria agallocha (12), Aegiceras corniculatum, Ceriops decandra, Lumnitzera racemosa (8 each), Sonneratia apetala (5), Acanthus ilicifolius (2). Verruculina enalia was recorded on all the host plants examined. Hypox ylon sp., Lulworthia sp., Trichocladium achrasporum were recorded on 6 out of 9 host species. Lophiostoma mangrovei, Lulworthia grandispora, Halorosel linia oceanica and Hysterium sp. were recorded in 5 out of 9 host plants. O thers were recorded on any one or up to 4 host plants.