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Few papers have been published on the interactions between slime moulds and beetles in Europe. The available knowledge was usually acquired incidentally to mycological studies and concerns common and easily identifiable slime moulds. The beetles in those studies were frequently identified to genus only, and sometimes only selected families were studied. In 2018–2019, a comprehensive survey of Myxomycete-Coleoptera associations was carried out in the Pieniny National Park (Carpathians, S Poland). A total of 164 sporocarps from 30 species of slime moulds were examined, and beetles were found in 112 sporocarps of 23 slime mould species. The sporocarps were inhabited by 674 individuals from 37 species of beetles. To date, this is the most comprehensive study of beetles associated with slime moulds in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collections of a pleurotoid fungus from dead aspen in eastern Russia were initially identified as Lentinus sp., then as Phyllotopsis nidulans. DNA sequencing of cultures derived from these specimens using the nuclear ribosomal 28S (nrLSU) and nuclear ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions (nrITS) showed that they were neither Lentinus nor Phyllotopsis and were not related to other pleurotoid genera Hohenbuehelia and Pleurotus. Subsequent investigation showed that the Russian fungus was the same as Pleurotus vetlinianus described from Poland. A new genus, Lignomyces, is described and characterized and L. vetlinianus comb. nov. is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]