Dr. Merlin White joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at Boise State University in 2007 after earning a Ph.D. in Botany (Mycology) from the University of Kansas. Dr. White's research aims to understand the unique association of obligate endosymbionts (“gut fungi”), which can be found worldwide, attached variously to the digestive tract of their (non-predaceous) arthropod hosts. His research has taken him throughout the United States and Canada, and as far afield as Mexico and Norway.
Articles
Overview of 75 Years of Smittium Research, Establishing a New Genus for Smittium culisetae and Prospects for Future Revisions of the "Smittium" Clade (with Yan Wang, Eric D. Tretter, and Robert W. Lichtwardt), Mycologia (2013)
The Harpellales includes 38 genera of endosymbiotic microfungi associated with various Arthropoda. Smittium, the second...
New Species of Smittium and Stachylina and Other Trichomycetes in Larval Diptera from Streams in Nova Scotia, Canada (with D. B. Strongman), Botany (2012)
The guts of non-predaceous invertebrates in aquatic and moist terrestrial habitats are often colonized by...
New Species of Spartiella and Legeriosimilis from Mayflies and Other Arthropod-Associated Trichomycetes from Nova Scotia, Canada (with D. B. Strongman), Botany (2012)
The digestive tracts of non-predaceous, aquatic insects and other arthropods living in moist habitats harbour...
Nuclear Ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) Region as a Universal DNA Barcode Marker for Fungi (with Eric Tretter, Yan Wang, and Eric M. Johnson), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2012)
Six DNA regions were evaluated as potential DNA barcodes for Fungi, the second largest kingdom...
A New Species of Ephemerellomyces from North America Highlights Its Morphological Plasticity and Possible Intergeneric Similarities with Other Harpellales (with Prasanna Kandel), Fungal Biology (2012)
During routine bioprospecting efforts in southern Idaho, we recovered a new species, Ephemerellomyces kandelii from...
Books
The Trichomycetes: Fungal Associates of Arthropods (with Robert W. Lichtwardt and Matías J. Cafaro) (2001)
Contributions to Books
Freshwater Trichomycetes and Their Arthropod Hosts (with R. W. Lichtwardt and M. J. Cafaro), Freshwater Mycology (2003)
Freshwater fungi are diverse in numbers, taxonomic groups and ecological roles, but they have been...
Taxonomy and Systematics of Trichomycetes – Past, Present, and Future (with Matias J. Cafaro and Alexandra M. Gottlieb), Trichomycetes and Other Fungal Groups: Robert W. Lichtwardt Commemoration Volume (2001)
The book has been divided into two parts. Part I comprises review chapters on trichomycetes...
The Classification and Phylogeny of the Trichomycetes and Zygomycetes (with Gerald L. Benny), Trichomycetes and Other Fungal Groups: Robert W. Lichtwardt Commemoration Volume (2001)
Presentations