Origin of fungi species

[Besnard Lake]

Hello everyone,

Could anyone let me know of a website that has the origins of different fungi sp.? I need to know if Kretschzmaria deusta, Meripilus giganteus and Polyporus squamosus are native to UK.

Regards

Bes

[Michael Jordan]

Probably an impossible question to answer one way or the other. All 3 species occur in association with host tree species that are native to the UK (in terms of post-glaciation flora) and the 3 are also pretty ubiquitous in their distribution across the northern hemisphere. Kretzschmaria deusta and Meripilus giganteus occur with Beech and Polyporus squamosus occurs with a number of host trees including Ash, Maple and Walnut.

The earliest UK fungal records only go back, more or less, to the 17th century and I believe that fungal evidence tends not to be well preserved in fossil beds, although it is to be found in peat-preserved timber.

By way of a postscript: "The fungal-plant root associates known as a mycorrhizal symbiosis appear to have evolved in the Early Devonian. The distribution of fungi in space and time based on fossil evidence, together with rapidly accumulating molecular data, will provide the continuing impetus to characterize more accurately the phylogeny on the fungi." [CAB]