Abstract
In Zopf's (11) account of the capture of nematodes by Arthrobotrys oligospora Fres. and Monosporidium repens Zopf were de? scribed, apparently for the first time, instances of a biological habit comparable in part to the carnivorous habit of insectivorous flowering plants. More recently (1, 2, 3) nearly a score of additional fungi occurring in soil, in leaf mold, and in solid decaying materials generally, have been found to capture and consume nematodes in large numbers; evidently, indeed, subsisting in nature entirely through such predacious activity. By far most of these fungi are closely related to those dealt with by Zopf, being referable to a group of interrelated genera including Arthrobotrys, Trichothecium, Cephalothecium, Dactylaria, Dactylella and Monacrosporium (4). The relatively few nematode-capturing forms alien to this hyphomycetous series are conidial phycomycetes belonging to the Zoopagaceae, a family whose known members are mostly destructive to terricolous amoebae, some operating in parasitic, others in predacious relationships (5, 6). Of the few species preying on nematodes, only one, Stylopage hadra Drechsl., has hitherto been described in detail (7) ; so that the description offered herein, of a second species of like biological habit, may be of interest even in the absence of pronounced departures in morphology. The fungus in question was obtained in quantity from several samples of soil collected by F. L. Wellman in celery fields near Sanford, Florida, January 1935. Pinches of the soil were placed on old maizemeal-agar plate cultures liberally infested with nema? todes representing species of Rhabditis, Cephalobus and Acrobeles. After a period varying usually from 1 to 3 weeks, vegetative my? celium was found present here and there in fairly extensive tracts. In general character this mycelium resembled that of Stylopage
Published Version
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