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The smut fungal genus Microbotryum (Microbotryales, Pucciniomycotina) contains species that parasitize plants from many different lineages of euasterids, with host specificity of individual parasite species in general being exceptionally high. Additionally, it has been shown that the location of spore production in some species is related to spore dispersal. In this phylogenetic study based on ITS and LSU rDNA data of 57 Microbotryum spp., host spectra and sorus location are mapped on the phylogeny of Microbotryum species in order to understand the macroevolutionary patterns of these two traits. We find that monophyletic parasite clades correspond well with monophyletic host clades and also that monophyletic parasite groups in general produce their spores in the same plant organ. Ancestral state reconstruction inferred the most probable ancestral trait for sorus location being leaves and the most probable ancestral host family for the genus Microbotryum as being the Polygonaceae. According to molecular analyses, a newly sequenced specimen of Ustilago ducellieri, a seed parasite on Arenaria leptoclados, previously treated as synonym of Microbotryum duriaeanum, belongs to a lineage distinct from specimens of M. duriaeanum. A new combination, Microbotryum ducellieri, is accordingly proposed. Taxonomic implications of the presented analyses for the genera Bauhinus and Haradaea are briefly discussed.

This paper presents new records and noteworthy data on the following taxa in SE Europe and adjacent regions: red algae Lemanea fucina and Paralemanea annulata, parasitic fungus Anthracoidea pratensis, saprotrophic fungi Cyathus olla, Massaria campestris, and Xylaria sicula, stonewort Chara canescens, liverworts Gymnomitrion commutatum and Porella baueri, moss Acaulon triquetrum, monocots Anacamptis laxiflora, Cephalanthera damasonium, and Himantoglossum robertianum and dicot Jacobaea othonnae are given within SE Europe and adjacent regions.

A checklist of all taxa of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi recorded from Bulgaria is presented. The lichen biota as currently known includes 1137 taxa (1115 species, 5 subspecies, and 17 varieties) of lichenized fungi, 46 species of lichenicolous fungi, and 28 non-lichenized fungi traditionally included in lichenological literature. Lepra corallina is reported for the first time from Bulgaria. An index of synonyms based on literature records from Bulgaria is appended. It includes 1761 infrageneric names.

After examination of specimens in the herbarium of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, eight species of smut fungi are reported for the first time from Greece: Microbotryum dianthorum on Dianthus viscidus, Sporisorium pulverulentum on Saccharum strictum, Tilletia fusca on Vulpia ciliata, T. lolii on Lolium temulentum, Urocystis dactylidina on Dactylis glomerata subsp. hackelii, U. johansonii on Juncus bufonius, U. ornithogali on Ornithogalum sp. and U. ulei on Festuca jeanpertii. Four species of smut fungi are recorded on new host plants making new fungus-host combinations: Microbotryum dianthorum on Dianthus viscidus, Tranzscheliella williamsii on Stipa isoldeae, Urocystis dactylidina on Dactylis glomerata subsp. hackelii and U. ulei on Festuca jeanpertii. Two plant species are reported as new hosts of smut fungi already known from Greece: Stipa isoldeae for Tranzscheliella williamsii, and Lygeum spartum for T. hypodytes. All ten species of smut fungi are illustrated. A description ...