MONOBLEPHARIDALES 



In 1871 Cornu published his discovery of a new genus of aquatic 

 fungi which, in contrast to all other known oogamous forms, 

 possessed motile sperms. Three species, Monoblephahs (now Gonapodya) 

 prolifera, M. sphaerica, and M. polymorpha, were briefly characterized at 

 that time. The following year, in his classic Monographic des Sapro- 

 legniees (1872a), he described the last two fungi more completely and 

 illustrated them; he also included a brief description, without figures, 

 of the first, M. prolifera. This species he figured two years later in the 

 1874 edition of van Tieghem's Traite de Botanique (French edition of 

 Sachs's Lehrbuch). 



Many years elapsed before any members of the genus were again 

 observed. Indeed, as Thaxter (1895a), presumably the second person 

 to find these organisms, suggested (1903), mycologists had been doubtful 

 whether or not a group of fungi with such unique characters actually 

 existed. With the appearance of Thaxter's 1895 paper all doubts were 

 dispersed, and information concerning the genus Monoblepharis was 

 considerably increased. Further investigations, especially those of Lager- 

 heim (1900), Woronin (1904), Sparrow (1933b; 1940b), Beneke (1948), 

 Johns and Benjamin (1954), and Perrott (1955) have greatly extended 

 this knowledge, as has the work by Laibach (1926, 1927) on the cyto- 

 logical aspects of the group. 



Monoblepharis was regarded by Cornu as a member of the Saproleg- 

 niaceae. The genus was placed in a separate family, the Monoblephari- 

 daceae, by Fischer (1892). Schroeter (1893), Minden (1915), and later 

 authors segregated it in a distinct order, the Monoblepharidales, which, 

 as pointed out previously (Sparrow, 1933b), is closely related to the 

 Blastocladiales. 



The most interesting feature of the order is its method of sexual 

 reproduction. In one genus, Monoblepharis, the zygote is converted im- 

 mediately after fertilization into an oospore, whereas in the genera Gona- 

 podya and Monoblepharella it undergoes a period of motility propelled 

 by the persistent flagellum of the male gamete before coming to rest and 

 encysting (see p. 708). 



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