A convolute diversity of the Auriculariales (Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota) with sphaeropedunculate basidia

Morphological and DNA data show that effused representatives of the Auriculariales (Basidiomycota) with sphaeropedunculate basidia belong to eleven genera of which seven are dealt with in this study. Among them, Myxarium is the largest genus containing 21 accepted species of which nine are reintroduced below and five are described as new. Protodontia is limited to three species only, P. subgelatinosa (the generic type) and two newly described species from Africa. Protoacia is a new monotypic genus for P. delicata, sp. nov., widely distributed on coniferous hosts in Eurasia. Myxariellum is erected for two new species with smooth hymenophore from northwestern North America while Gelacantha is introduced for G. pura, a new species with hydnoid hymenophore from Caucasus. Our data do not confirm the present synonymy of Sebacina sphaerospora with Tremella glaira, and these species are placed in two separate genera - Hydrophana, gen. nov., and Ofella, gen. nov., respectively. A key to European Myxarium and similar-looking species is included.Peer reviewe

Housing differences in the late Soviet city: the case of Tartu, Estonia

Research on the residential and housing differences of urban populations in post-second world war Central and Eastern Europe has a tradition extending back to the 1960s. Most studies have focused on the Polish, Czech and Hungarian (large) cities using aggregatelevel data and testing simultaneously the impact of a few factors on residential and housing differences. This research clarifies the housing differences in the late Soviet era of Tartu (the second largest city in Estonia). Using the individual-level data of the 1989 Soviet census and multivariate methods, the article demonstrates that several factors (age, education, occupation, employment sector, ethnic origin, place of origin) shape the individual's housing and living conditions in the late Soviet period in Tartu. On the one hand, the results support the importance of the policy of different institutions (state, enterprises) in shaping people's living conditions; on the other hand, they also point to people's resources and desires as the cause. Copyright (c) Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.