This issue of Mycological Research News features: Fungi from coral reefs: a commentary. An obituary of Meinhard M. Moser (1924–2002), doyen of European agaricologists and a Centenary Fellow of the British Mycological Society, is also presented.

Molecular papers in this part include the characterization of an α-L-arabinofuranosidase gene in Penicillium, the proteomomics of development in a Phytophthora, the isolation of differentially expressed genes in Agaricus bisporus, and the demonstration of different genotypes in somatic cells of Armillaria.

Nitrogen utilization by Amanita in Australia is documented, and species antagonistic to Rhizoctonia cerealis are compared enzymatically. Probes to detect Rhizoctonia spp. and Suillus bovinus are also reported. A single Phyllosticta species can live as an endophyte in different plant families, while two morphologically identical Pseudocercospora species on different hosts are molecularly distinct. Two karyotypes occur in the cacoa Crinipellis perniciosa, and new molecular phylogenetic data on the Dermatocapron miniatum and Ophiostoma piceae complexes is presented. New species described include a Phytophthora pathogenic to trees and shrubs in wet sites, and ectomycorrhizal mushrooms from Guyana and India.

The following new scientific names are introduced in this part: Cortinarius conopileus, C. keralensis, C. phlegmophorus, Dermatocarpon taminium, Inocybe ayangannae, I. epidendron, I. lilacinosquamosa, I. pulchella, Phytophthora inundata, Pseudocercospora hibbertiae-asperae, P. platylobi spp. nov.; and D. tenue (syn. D. muhlenbergii var. tenue) comb. nov.