STRAMINIPILA, A NEW KINGDOM NAME FOR ‘OOMYCETE’ FUNGI

Abstract

The Book Reviews section of this issue (Mycological Research106(10): 1247–1248, October 2002) includes an appraisal of Dick's Straminipilous Fungi (Dick 2001). This seminal work synthesises the state of our knowledge of the Peronosporomycetes (syn. Oomycetes), marine straminipilous protists, plasmodiophorids, and similar organisms. It also introduces the new kingdom name Straminipila M. W. Dick 2001 to be used in preference to the earlier published kingdom name Chromista Cavalier-Smith 1981. This step is taken because it is the flagellar apparatus of the zoospores (heterokont; one whiplash and one tinsel) that is the critical diagnostic feature of the kingdom, not the presence of pigmented organelles (i.e. chromophyte endosymbionts). For this reason, the terms ‘stramenopilous’ and ‘straminipilous’ had already gained popularity in the literature during the last decade, although the kingdom name has not been formally proposed. More detailed information is given in the review, but mycologists in general need to be aware of this change and to adopt the name in their teaching and writing for what used to be known as the chromistan fungi, oomycete fungi, or pseudofungi.