A new tripartite relationship among animals, fungi, and plants, based on formation of ectomycorrhiza and on removal of animal wastes, is described. In forest habitats where animal wastes such as urine or faeces or dead bodies, mainly of mammals, have been deposited, a particular group of fungi form reproductive structures successionally after the apparent decomposition of the wastes. This natural event can be simulated by application to the soil of urea, aqueous ammonia, or nitrogen compounds that release ammonia on decomposition. Both field observations and simulation experiments show that, when these events take place in forests of ectomycorrhizal trees, ectomycorrhizal fungi fruit during the late phase in the succession. Ectomycorrhizas are in fact observed in the soils colonized by these fungi. Among these fungi, Hebeloma spp., Laccaria spp., and a few others colonize commonly in various waste sites, while Hebeloma radicosum colonizes specifically in moles' deserted middens (latrines) near their nests. The animals involved here as waste depositors or cadavers seem not to feed on the fungi and the plants but may depend on them for cleaning their own habitats, since mycorrhizas should readily remove products derived from wastes. The tripartite relationship described may be viewed as a cleaning symbiosis.Resume : L'auteur dCcrit une nouvelle association tripartite entire animaux, champignons et plantes, basCe sur la formation d'ectomycorhizes et 1'Climination des dCchets animaux. Dans des habitats forestiers oG ont Ct C dCposCs des dCchets animaux tels que de l'urine, des fkces ou des corps morts, surtout de mammifkres, un groupe particulier de champignons ont form6 des structures de reproduction en succession aprbs la dCcomposition apparente des dCchets. Cet Cvbnement nature1 peut &tre simulC par l'application au sol d'urCe, d'ammoniaque liquide ou de composCs azotCs reldchant de l'ammoniac en se dCcomposant. Des observations aux champs ainsi que des experiences de simulation montrent que, lorsque ces Cvbnements ont lieu en for&t sur des arbres ectomycorhiziens, les champignons ectomycorhiziens fructifient au cours de la dernibre phase de la succession. On observe des ectomycorhizes dans les sols colonisCs par ces champignons. Parmi ces champignons, les Hebeloma spp., Laccaria spp., et quelques autres se retrouvent frkquemment sur differents sites de dCchets, alors que I'Hebeloma radicosum colonise spCcifiquement les dCpbts de feces (latrine) que les taupes accumulent au voisinage de leur terrier. Les animaux impliquCs ici comme producteurs de dCchets ou sous forme de leur cadavres ne semblent pas se nourrir de ces champignons, mais pourraient en dependre pour le nettoyage de leur propre habitat, puisque les mycorhizes sont susceptibles d'Climiner rapidement les produits dCrivCs des dCchets. La relation tripartite dCcrite ici peut &tre considCrCe comme une symbiose de nettoyage.

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Coprinopsis phlyctidospora (syn: Coprinus phlyctidosporus) from the Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia can be segregated into two groups, northern and southern, based on the nucleotide sequences of their ITS regions. The mating type of a C. phlyctidospora isolate was tetrapolar. Mating reactions were compatible between monokaryotic testers derived from basidiospores of a Japanese isolate and dikaryotic isolates obtained from a wide geographic area in Japan. In contrast, mating between the Japanese monokaryotic and dikaryotic isolates from Australia and New Zealand were incompatible. These results indicated that C. phlyctidospora was complex and individuals currently recognized as C. phlyctidospora in the Northern Hemisphere and those in the Southern Hemisphere are distinct taxa. The relationship between the clades and the biogeography of the C. phlyctidospora complex are also discussed.

Fruit-bodies of Agaricales are known to show positive phototropism during the early stage of development, but negative gravitropism at the later stage after the onset of basidiospore formation. However, when exposed to light from below, the fruit-bodies of Tephrocybe tesquorum and Coprinus spp. grew downward through all stages of development, even after the onset of basidiospore formation. Primordium formation, fruit-body development and basidiospore formation were not disturbed under such conditions. In these downward-growing fruit-bodies, gills stood straight upward. In T.tesquorum, caps often became swollen and stipes sometimes became twisted anticlockwise, contrary to those in light from above, while such behaviours were not observed in Coprinus spp.

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