ABSTRACT
The study of the Uredinological mycota of three Cerrado areas of São Paulo State, Brazil, was performed in order to increase the knowledge about this important group of plant pathogens. The studied areas are amongst the few remnants of once widespread 'cerrado' vegetation in the State of São Paulo. Based on 1176 Uredinales samples collected between 1975 and 1999, 128 genera of hosts distributed in 49 plant families were identified. Rust fungi were represented by 157 species distributed in 36 genera with predominance of the following: Puccinia (53 spp.), Uromyces (19 spp.), Aecidium and Phakopsora (10 spp.), Prospodium (8 spp.), Uredo (6 spp.), Crossopsora and Ravenelia (5 spp.) and Coleosporium (4 spp.). The species list includes the original citation, nomenclatural-type whenever extant, a new notation for the life cicle based on the ontogenic school, synonymy, collecting data and comments on nomenclature and a host index. Voucher specimens were deposited in the herbaria at Instituto Biológico (IBI), Botanical Research Institute (BRIT), Texas, USA and Rio de Janerio Botanical Garden (RB).
Key words:
biodiversity; plant pathology; cerrado remnants; taxonomy