Tom W. May

Tom W. May
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

PhD

About

225
Publications
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Publications

Publications (225)
Article
Laccaria (Hydnangiaceae, Agaricales, Basidiomycota) is one of the more intensively studied ectomycorrhizal genera; however, species boundaries within Laccaria and the closely related Hydnangium and Podohydnangium in Australia have not yet been examined with molecular sequence data. Based on morphological characters, eight native species of Laccaria...
Chapter
Fungi are megadiverse, ubiquitous and carry out significant ecosystem roles — yet have been largely overlooked in accounts of biogeography in the Australasian region. The purpose of this chapter is to summarise previous syntheses and recent literature in order to demonstrate that fungi are tractable organisms for exploring hypotheses about distribu...
Article
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Article impact statement: Conservation mycology is a newly introduced discipline relevant to conservation biologists, mycologists, ecologists, and conservation policy.
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Fungal species are not immune to the threats facing animals and plants and are thus also prone to extinction. Yet, until 2015, fungi were nearly absent on the IUCN Red List. Recent efforts to identify fungal species under threat have significantly increased the number of published fungal assessments. The 597 species of fungi published in the 2022-1...
Article
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Fungi with prominent hairlike rhizomorphs, aerial habit, sparse small sporophores, and usually saprotrophic biology are commonly known as ‘horsehair or spider fungi’. The earliest descriptions of them, from the mid-late 1800s, were published from Australian material under the names Marasmius crinis-equi and M. equicrinis . For the original ‘horseha...
Article
Stipitate Thelephorales are basidiomycetous, mostly hydnoid, ectomycorrhizal fungi. Some species have declined considerably, and some are threat-listed as vulnerable or endangered. These ecological concerns require a well-resolved taxonomy to understand diversity in this group of fungi and facilitate conservation. However, phylogenetic studies have...
Article
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A commentary is provided on the seven formally published proposals to modify the provisions of Chapter F of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICNafp) that will be dealt with by the Fungal Nomenclature Session (FNS) of the 12th International Mycological Congress (IMC12) in August 2024. The proposals deal with: fung...
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Seven proposals or sets of proposals to modify the provisions of Chapter F of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICNafp) have been received. These proposals are formally presented together here. The topics addressed relate to: fungi whose morph-names have the same epithet; the listing of synonyms under entries for...
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The debates over the requirement of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICNafp) for a viable specimen to represent the name-bearing type material for a species or infraspecific taxon have a long history. Taxonomy of fungi commonly studied as living cultures exemplified by yeasts and moulds, strongly depend on viable...
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To circumscribe Propolis farinosa (Pers.) Fr., type of the taxonomically understudied genus Propolis (Fr.) Corda, we investigated the nomenclature and taxonomy of the synonym Stictis saligna (Alb. & Schwein.) Pers. The basionym of S. saligna is Tremella saligna Alb. & Schwein., described in Albertini and Schweinitz's Conspectus fungorum in Lusatiae...
Article
Plant and animal conservation have benefited from the assistance of wildlife detection dogs (WDDs) since 1890, but their application to fungal conservation has not been trialed. In a world-first, we tested the effectiveness of WDDs and human surveyors when searching for experimentally outplanted fungi in natural habitat. We focused on a critically...
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An addition to the list of names for protection under Art. F.2.1 from the Cordyceps Working Group, containing two names of genera, is approved. The following two family names are recommended for conservation: Physaraceae against Fuliginaceae ; and Metschnikowiaceae against Nectaromycetaceae and Torulopsidaceae . The following six generic names are...
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Five lists of names for protection assembled by working groups set up under Art. F.2.1 are approved. The lists contain one family name along with 39 names of genera and 10 names of species, to be treated as protected against listed and unlisted synonymous or homonymous names. Lists were compiled by working groups (WGs) approved by the International...
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Journal Swainsona ISSN 2206-1657: To aid identification of exotic species of Amanita Pers. in association with exotic trees found in Australia and New Zealand in urban areas, botanic gardens and exotic plantation forestry, we sequenced select collections of the genus under names originally applied to northern hemisphere material in the fungaria ME...
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UNITE (https://unite.ut.ee) is a web-based database and sequence management environment for molecular identification of eukaryotes. It targets the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and offers nearly 10 million such sequences for reference. These are clustered into ∼2.4M species hypotheses (SHs), each assigned a unique digit...
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Information on appointments to the Fungal Nomenclature Bureau is provided. Appointments to two Special-purpose Committees are reported. The following four generic names are recommended for conservation: Bilimbia with a conserved type; Coccotrema against Lepolichen; Fuscidea against Maronea; and Leptogium (lichenized Ascomycota) with a conserved typ...
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The Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is an international initiative of more than 550 mycologists to develop an electronic structure for the classification of these organisms. The members of the Consortium originate from 55 countries/regions worldwide, from a wide range of disciplines, and include senior, mid-ca...
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Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fun...
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Pseudobaeospora taluna is formally described from southern Australia, representing the first report of the genus from Australia given that P. lamingtonensis is excluded from the genus. Analysis of sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) shows that P. taluna is a distinct phylogenetic species. The distinctive morphological characteristics...
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A special‐purpose Committee on DNA Sequences as Types was established at the XIX International Botanical Congress (IBC) in Shenzhen, China, in 2017, with a mandate to report to the XX IBC in Madrid in 2024 with recommendations on a preferred course of action with respect to potential amendments of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, f...
Preprint
Full-text available
Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fun...
Article
Objective: To compare the accuracy of three popular mushroom identification software applications in identifying mushrooms involved in exposures reported to the Victorian Poisons Information Centre and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Background: Over the past 10 years, an increasing number of software applications have been developed for use on...
Article
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Trechisporales, typified by Trechispora and equivalent to Hydnodontales, is a recently introduced order within Agaricomycetes. This order only comprises one family Hydnodontaceae and 16 independent genera, but the relationships among these genera are not fully clarified. Here, via a wider sampling especially from Asia Pacific, careful morphological...
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Fungal taxonomy is a fundamental discipline that aims to recognise all fungi and their kinships. Approximately 5% of a practical estimate of 2.2–3.8 million species globally are currently known, and consequently the Fungal Tree of Life (FTOL) is very incompletely reconstructed. With the advances of new technologies, mycology is marching into the in...
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With this paper we introduce the Australian Journal of Taxonomy and outline its scope, rationale, workflow and governance. The journal is published by Taxonomy Australia, a national collaboration by the Australian taxonomic community. Australian Journal of Taxonomy is one of the world's first fully-online journals. Papers are born-digital and born-...
Article
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We describe several new genera and species of sequestrate fungi from different regions of the world that belong to five different basidiomycete families. New taxa include: Amylotrama gen. nov., Amylotrama clelandii comb. nov., A. banrockensis sp. nov., Boletus kundabungkid sp. nov. (Boletaceae), Russula crassibasidiata sp. nov., R. danksiae sp. nov...
Article
Tulasnella (Tulasnellaceae) is a genus of fungus that can form mycorrhizal associations with orchids (Orchidaceae). Here we used molecular phylogenetic analyses and morphological characteristics of pure cultures across four different media to support the description of five new Tulasnella species associated with commonly occurring and endangered Au...
Article
International trade in plants and climate change are two of the main factors causing damaging tree pests (i.e. fungi and insects) to spread into new areas. To mitigate these risks, a large-scale assessment of tree-associated fungi and insects is needed. We present records of endophytic fungi and insects in twigs of 17 angiosperm and gymnosperm gene...
Article
Full-text available
International trade in plants and climate change are two of the main factors causing damaging tree pests (i.e. fungi and insects) to spread into new areas. To mitigate these risks, a large-scale assessment of tree-associated fungi and insects is needed. We present records of endophytic fungi and insects in twigs of 17 angiosperm and gymnosperm gene...
Article
Full-text available
Auriculariales accommodates species with diverse basidiomes and hymenophores. From morphological and phylogenetic perspectives, we perform a taxonomic study on Heteroradulum , a recently validated genus within the Auriculariales . The genus Grammatus is merged into Heteroradulum , and thus its generic type G. labyrinthinus is combined with Heterora...
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Amaurodon (Thelephorales, Basidiomycota) constitutes a small but globally distributed genus in the order Thelephorales that is thought to be saprotrophic. Previously described species are soft and corticioid, with a smooth or hydnoid, blue to green hymenium which turns green after drying and have spores that turn purple in KOH. Based on sequences f...
Article
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With the change to one scientific name for fungal taxa, generic names typified by species with sexual or asexual morph types are being evaluated to determine which names represent the same genus and thus compete for use. In this paper generic names of the Agaricomycotina ( Basidiomycota ) were evaluated to determine synonymy based on their type. Fo...
Article
Open-access occurrence data are useful for studying spatial patterns of fungi, but often have quality issues. These include errors in taxonomy and geo-coordinates, and incomplete coverage across areas and taxonomic groups. We identify 15 quality issues that can lead to incorrect biogeographic inference, and develop a reproducible pipeline that flag...
Article
Billions of microorganisms perform critical below‐ground functions in all terrestrial ecosystems. While largely invisible to the naked eye, they support all higher lifeforms, form symbiotic relationships with ~90% of terrestrial plant species, stabilize soils, and facilitate biogeochemical cycles. Global increases in the frequency of disturbances a...
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Observational records of fungi by citizen scientists have mushroomed over the last three decades, especially those submitted via on-line platforms, increasingly accompanied by images. For example, Research Grade observations of Fungi in iNaturalist have increased from just over 5,000 for 2010 to more than 400,000 for 2020, with annual rates of incr...
Article
Serendipita is one of the main fungal genera that form mutualistic associations with species of orchids (Orchidaceae). Here, seven new Serendipita species associated with various Australian orchid genera are described. These Serendipita species were originally characterized by multilocus DNA sequence species delimitation analyses (three mtDNA and f...
Article
Nine compounds including the new diastereomers (3′R)-fasciculic acid C (1) and (3′S)-fasciculic acid C (2), the triterpenes (3–5), the sesquiterpenes (6–7) and the diketopiperazines (8–9) were isolated from the Australian mushroom Hypholoma australianum. Several lanostane triterpenes have been isolated from the genus Hypholoma previously contain a...
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Hyphodontia sensu lato, belonging to Hymenochaetales, accommodates corticioid wood-inhabiting basidiomycetous fungi with resupinate basidiocarps and diverse hymenophoral characters. Species diversity of Hyphodontia sensu lato has been extensively explored worldwide, but in previous studies the six accepted genera in Hyphodontia sensu lato, viz. Fas...
Article
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Species distribution models based on environmental predictors are useful to explain a species geographic range. For many groups of organisms, including fungi, the increase in occurrence data sets has generalized their use. However, fungal species are not always easy to distinguish, and taxonomy of many groups is not completely settled. This study e...
Article
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A second genus in Chlorociboriaceae is described here as Brahmaculus gen. nov. Macroscopically distinctive, all species have bright yellow apothecia with several apothecial cups held on short branches at the tip of a long stipe. The genus is widely distributed across the Southern Hemisphere; the four new species described here include two from Chil...
Article
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It is now a decade since The International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF) produced an overview of requirements and best practices for describing a new fungal species. In the meantime the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICNafp) has changed from its former name (the International Code of Botanical Nomencla...
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Human and natural disturbances are key drivers of change in forest ecosystems. Yet, the direct and indirect mechanisms which underpin these changes remain poorly understood at the ecosystem level. Here, using structural equation modelling across a 150+ year chronosequence, we disentangle the direct and indirect effects of major disturbances in a te...
Article
The identification and proper naming of microfungi, in particular plant, animal and human pathogens, remains challenging. Molecular identification is becoming the default approach for many fungal groups, and environmental metabarcoding is contributing an increasing amount of sequence data documenting fungal diversity on a global scale. This include...
Book
Fungi are diverse, delicious and sometimes deadly. With interest in foraging for wild food on the rise, learning to accurately identify fungi reduces both poisoning risk to humans and harm to the environment. This extensively illustrated guide takes a 'slow mushrooming' approach – providing the information to correctly identify a few edible species...
Article
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The Podosphaera tridactyla species complex is highly variable morphologically and causes powdery mildew on a wide range of Prunus species, including stone fruit. A taxonomic revision of the Po. tridactyla species complex in 2020 identified 12 species, seven of which were newly characterised. In order to clarify which species of this complex are pre...
Article
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There were errors in the name of author László G. Nagy and in affiliation no. 31 in the original publication. The original article has been corrected.
Chapter
There are fundamental differences between the current levels of genomic and proteomic knowledge for bacteria and fungi. With multiple growth forms and over 100,000 known species, the fungi probably present a more complex situation, but genomic studies are hindered by the lack of reliable reference data for many species. As activities such as enviro...
Article
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Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Australia, Austroboletus asper on soil, Cylindromonium alloxyli on leaves of Alloxylon pinnatum, Davidhawksworthia quintiniae on leaves of Quintinia sieberi, Exophiala prostantherae on leaves of Prostanthera sp., Lactifluus lactiglaucus on soil, Linterom...
Article
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Here, we describe the taxon hypothesis (TH) paradigm, which covers the construction, identification, and communication of taxa as datasets. Defining taxa as datasets of individuals and their traits will make taxon identification and most importantly communication of taxa precise and reproducible. This will allow datasets with standardized and atomi...
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Dr Eduard Wehl and Clara Wehl (née Mueller) and their children hold a unique position in the history of South Australian botany because of their association with Clara’s brother and the children’s uncle, Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, Australia’s most significant botanist of the nineteenth century. Both Wehl parents and six of their twelve surviving...
Article
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Many orchids have an obligate relationship with Tulasnella mycorrhizal fungi for seed germination and support into adulthood. Despite the importance of Tulasnella as mycorrhizal partners, many species remain undescribed. Here, we use multiple sequence locus phylogenetic analyses to delimit and describe six new Tulasnella species associated with Aus...
Article
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A strain of Podosphaera clandestina has been highlighted as a priority pest threat to the Australian cherry industry. Australia currently has no records of powdery mildew on cherry (Prunus avium). P. clandestina is reported to cause disease on a range of Rosaceae genera including Crataegus and Prunus and in Australia, P. clandestina has only been r...
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It is common practice in scientific journals to print genus and species names in italics. This is not only historical as species names were traditionally derived from Greek or Latin. Importantly, it also facilitates the rapid recognition of genus and species names when skimming through manuscripts. However, names above the genus level are not alway...
Article
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The cryptic lifestyle of most fungi necessitates molecular identiication of the guild in environmental studies. Over the past decades, rapid development and afordability of molecular tools have tremendously improved insights of the fungal diversity in all ecosystems and habitats. Yet, in spite of the progress of molecular methods, knowledge about f...
Article
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Procedures for preparing and submitting proposals to amend or enhance Chapter F of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants are provided. Such proposals will be considered by the Fungal Nomenclature Session of the XII International Mycological Congress to he held in Amsterdam in 2022. A timetable is laid out for the submi...
Article
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True fungi (Fungi) and fungus-like organisms (e.g. Mycetozoa, Oomycota) constitute the second largest group of organisms based on global richness estimates, with around 3 million predicted species. Compared to plants and animals, fungi have simple body plans with often morphologically and ecologically obscure structures. This poses challenges for a...
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The purpose of this study was to identify a reliable DNA extraction protocol to use on 25-year-old powdery mildew specimens from the reference collection VPRI in order to produce high quality sequences suitable to address taxonomic phylogenetic questions. We tested 13 extraction protocols and two library preparation kits and found the combination o...
Article
Species distribution models (SDMs) are an emerging tool in the study of fungi, and their use is expanding across species and research topics. To summarise progress to date and to highlight important considerations for future users, we review 283 studies that apply SDMs to fungi. We found that macrofungi, lichens, and pathogenic microfungi are most...
Article
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Abstract A revised version of Chapter F of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants is presented, incorporating amendments approved by the Fungal Nomenclature Session of the 11th International Mycological Congress held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in July 2018. The process leading to the amendments is outlined. Key changes in...
Article
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Four species of Haploporus, H.angustisporus, H.crassus, H.gilbertsonii and H.microsporus are described as new and H.pirongia is proposed as a new combination, based on morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analyses inferred from internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and large subunit nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU) sequences. Haplo...
Article
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P.tristis is an ectomycorrhizal, corticioid fungus whose name is frequently assigned to collections of basidiomata as well as root tip and soil samples from a wide range of habitats and hosts across the northern hemisphere. Despite this, its identity is unclear; eight heterotypic taxa have in major reviews of the species been considered synonymous...