COELOMOMYCES-PSOROPHORAE VAR TASMANIENSIS COUCH + LAIRD (1988) (COELOMOMYCETAECEAE, BLASTOCLADIALES), A FUNGAL PATHOGEN OF THE MOSQUITO AEDES-AUSTRALIS .1. STRUCTURAL-CHANGES IN THE OUTER WALLS OF SPORANGIA DURING GERMINATION

The germination of sporangia in Coelomomyces psorophorae var tasmaniensis (C. p. tas.) is uncoordinated and thus there is a mixture of developmental stages in any given population. Continuous urografin gradients separated out the critical stages of germinating sporangia giving four bands, each band representing a consecutive stage of germination. These stages were investigated for changes in the sporangial wall using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The sporangia have a typical two-layered wall, an electron dense outer layer which can be divided into three distinct sub-layers D1, D2, and D3 and an inner electron transparent secondary wall. Stage 3 sporangia have an intact D1 layer on their outer wall. In the subsequent stages (4 & 4b) there is a progressive breakdown of this layer. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.