Pythium prolatum isolated from soil in the Burgundy region: a new record for Europe

Pythium prolatum Hendrix and Campbell has been isolated from a soil sample taken in the Burgundy region in France. The fungus is easily recognisable by its heavily ornamented oogonia with conical to mammiform spines, elongated sporangia, and its diclinous antheridia forming or originating from a tangled mass of hyphae. Descriptions of the morphological and reproductive aspects of Pythium prolatum, the polymerase chain reaction of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) of the ribosomal nuclear DNA as well as the nucleotide sequences of ITS1 coding for 5.8 S rRNA are given.