Open Access

Zdenek Hubalek

• In 1080 samples (feathers, nesls, pellets, droppings, cloaca contents and visceral organs) collected from 92 species of free-living birds in many localities and habitats, a total of 6266 fungi was found; we identified 232 species and 112 genera of fungi (73.4 % Ascomycetes, 12.4 % Fungi imperfecti, 8.0 % Zygomycetes, 5.7 % Endomycetes, 0.3 % Oomycetes; and 0.2 % Basidiomycetes). The most common fungal genera were, in plumage, Alternaria. Cladosporium, Arthroderma, Chaetominum, Aspergillus, Penicillium and Chrllsosporium; in nests, Alternaria, Arthroderma, Penicillium, Aphanoascus and Scopulariopsis; on pellets, Penicillium, Mucor, Aspergillus, Chrysosporium and Rhizopus; in droppings, Scopulariopsis, Mucor, Aspergillus, Penicillium and Candida; from the cloaca contents, we isolated Penicillium, Candida, Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis, a. o., and from the visceral organs, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhodotorula, and some others. Of the fungi with a potential pathogenicity for homeotherms, we obtained, e. g., Absidia corymbifera, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoforrnans and Microsporum gypseum. We confirmed also the presence of several species of toxinogenic fungi (e. g., Aspergillus flavus), of the fungi with a potential pathogenicity for poikilotherms (e. g., Beauveria bassiana. Paecilomyces jarinosus, P. fumoso-roseus), and of plant parasites (Cylindrocarpon radicicola, Fusarium oxysponom and Verticillium albo-atrum). Aphanoascus reticulisporum has been described as comb. nov. (basionym: Anixiopsis: reticulispom ROUTIEN). 66 species of the fungi have not been recorded earlier in Czechoslovakia. Similarly, the occurrence of 111 species had, apparently, not been confirmed in free-living birds on a world-wide scale.