Macrofungi in Mediterranean maquis along seashore and altitudinal transects

Despite the important role that fungi play in habitats stability, mycological data from Mediterranean ecosystems are scarce and fragmentary. We investigated fungal diversity in several areas characterized by Mediterranean maquis, from continental Italy, Sicily, and Greece in order to contribute to the analysis of distribution, ecology, and diversity of macrofungi in evergreen sclerophyllous shrublands at different elevation and distance from the seashore across the Mediterranean Basin.

Several fungal taxa that are remarkable due to their ecology, rarity, and limited geographical distribution were recovered. Among them, the ectomycorrhizal species Amanita dunensis and A. valens were recorded for the first time in Italy. The wood-inhabiting macrofungi, Aleurodiscus dextrinoideocerussatus , Peniophorella tsugae , Perenniporia meridionalis , Phanerochaete martelliana , Vararia ochroleuca , and six Peniophora species were reported for the first time in Greece.