Seven hundred and sixty-three rust species are known in Japan. One hundred and four species are long-cycled autoecious in their life cycle, whereas one hundred and sixteen species are microcyclic. One hundred and ninety-two species possess a heteroecious life cycle, with 161 species having been experimentally proven in Japan. Rust fungus species can better be recognized and separated from close allies by host specificity and life-cycle differences. This species recognition is considered to be congruent with the most widely accepted “Biological Species Concept.” Rust species recognized as such are associated with a disjunction in phenetic character-state co-variation. Therefore, the detection of disjunction in phenetic character-state co-variation can be a good estimate of species differences in rust fungi. Delimiting and characterizing rust species by host specificity and life-cycle can provide reasonable interpretations of rust fungus phylogeny estimated by molecular phylogenetic methods.

　The ecology and taxomy of plant parasitic clavicipitaceous fungi in East Asia were studied. These studies showed that 1) Aciculosporium take, a causal agent of bamboo witches’ broom formed appendaged conidia that can be transmitted by raindrops; 2) symptoms shown by Phyllostachys bambusoides were particularly severe based on the A. take host survey; 3) little difference was observed among the auxin productivities and rDNA nucleotide sequences in A. take isolates; 4) host bamboo species produced antifungal substances （N-p-coumaroyl serotonin） that were probably responsible for resistance to A. take; 5) the anamorphic Ephelis species in East Asia were phylogenetically divided into two groups that shared host grass species and habitat; 6) Heteroepichloë was proposed as a new genus to accommodate Epichloë sasae and E. bambusae. These studies contribute to understanding the use of these fungi as biological resources.

　Teleomorphs of Erysiphe liquidambaris on Liquidambar formosana and L. styracifl ua, E. polygoni on Rumex crispus, and E. euphorbiae and Podosphaera euphorbiae on Chamaesyce nutans were newly recorded in Japan. Of these four powdery mildew species, three species, i.e. E. liquidambaris, E. euphorbiae and P. euphorbiae, were first recorded in Japan. Liquidambar formosana and L. styraciflua were shown to be new host plants of powdery mildews in Japan and the world, respectively.

Details of isolation methods for species of Kickxellales are described. These methods were developed or modified from known isolation methods by the authors to isolate Coemansia and other kickxellalean species from soil. Three moist chamber methods (ordinary moist chamber, baiting, and enrichment methods) and two plating methods (direct inoculation and Warcup’s soil plate methods) were developed or modified. These isolation methods have been useful for finding undescribed kickxellalean species and genera by the authors during the last decade.

The first records of winter damages to winter wheat presumably caused by snow molds in Southern Sakhalin was 1908 or 1909, and for red clover, winter wheat and winter ray on Kunashiri and Etorofu islands (Kurile Islands) were 1940 and 1941, respectively. The first report of snow molds (Monographella nivalis var. nivalis, Myriosclerotinia borealis and Typhula incarnata) on winter wheat in Southern Sakhalin was 1936, and fungal specimens of snow molds (Typhula ishikariensis, M. borealis and Sclerotinia trifoliorum) in Southern Sakhalin were collected in 1932 and 1940. Those specimens have been kept in The Hokkaido University Museum (SAPA).

Geastrum kotlabae, collected from sand dunes of the Japanese coast, is described and illustrated as a first record in Japan. This species is characterized by strongly hygroscopic rays, sulcate peristome and absence of stalk.

Agaricoid fungi (Pegler 1986) in a subtropical area of Japan (Amami Is., Ryukyu Is., and Bonin Islands) were studied based on specimens (TFM, TNS) and literature published until July 2007. Totally 285 taxa (282 species, 1 variety and 2 forms belonging to 94 genera) are listed in alphabetical order by genus.

The authors report three species of Lentinus and four species of Panus in a subtropical area of Japan. Lentinus ciliatus is newly recorded for in Japan.