Some Viewpoints on the Phylogeny of Rust Fungi. II. Gymnosporangium

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Abstract
The historical development of the genus Gymnosporangium is studied according to its phylogeny and biological specialization. There is much factual material and conclusive evidence to support the present attempt to derive this genus from the group of "true" aecioid rusts, which, in the Mesozoic era, lived in their aecial stage on "true" conifers (in sensu Florin), forming teliospors on tropical ferns. Later on, the true rusts split into Melampsoraceae (Dietel, pr. p.), Pucciniaceae, and Gymnosporangiaceae, and specialized themselves to live on Abietaceae, Cupressaceae, and on ancestral angiosperms. By the end of the Mesozoic era, these plant groups had settled in northern temperate conifer forests and extensive grassland areas. In this new environment the ancestral Gymnosporangium, being disconnected from its telial host, had necessarily to exchange its aecial stage on conifers to the teliophase. This new evolutionary departure has caused many drastic changes and new trends in the life cycle of the genus Gymnosporangium.

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