Abstract
Abstract: The tropical region, which has the highest macrofungi diversity, has not been fully exploited instead of this is an important component of the global diversity. However, no work has been carried out to assess such diversity in Tripura. Since tropical forests are diverse in plant composition and structure, hence the objective of this study was to explore the mushroom species richness in Tripura, Northeast India with the aim of producing a checklist along with their present geographical distributions, key identification characters and valid photographs. Field surveys and collection of mushrooms were carried out in Tripura covering different sites during 2015–2018. Data on macrofungal diversity, distribution patterns and taxonomic identification were analyzed. A total of 217 wild mushrooms were documented from eight districts of Tripura, northeastern India. Out of 217 samples, 202 samples were identified up to the genus level, 125 samples were identified up to the species level. A total of 76 genera belonging to 60 families and 25 orders were classified in this ecological study. The majority of macrofungi belong to the family Polyporaceae (30 nos), and order Agaricales (103 specimens). The wild macrofungi were collected from 56 sites of eight districts of this state and the maximum macrofungi diversity was recorded from Sepahijala District. Present findings also observed that the maximum wild fungi of this state grow on different plant parts. This is the preliminary study on documentation of wild macrofungi from eight districts of Tripura, northeastern India and it will be used as a reference database of wild mushrooms of this state, which will also help in future research work in different fields.
Highlights
Fungi have been known from the Silurian period according to archaeological evidence (408–438 million years ago) in the Paleozoic era and the diversity of fungi had improved by the Pennsylvanian period 286–320 million years ago (Alexopoulos et al 1996)
Among these eight districts,the maximum number of mushroom specimens, i.e., 62 different mushrooms were collected from Sepahijala District followed by West Tripura (55), South Tripura (39), North Tripura (18), Gomati (14), Khowai (9), Dhalai (4), and Unakoti (4) (Figure 1)
All information about wild mushrooms such as scientific name, location, habitat, district name and distinguishing characters are presented in Table 1 and the photographs are presented in Image 1–11
Summary
Fungi have been known from (the fossil records) the Silurian period according to archaeological evidence (408–438 million years ago) in the Paleozoic era and the diversity of fungi had improved by the Pennsylvanian period 286–320 million years ago (Alexopoulos et al 1996). Hawksworth (2001) has anticipated that 0.14 million species created fruiting bodies of adequate shape, size, and appropriate structure to be considered as macrofungi i.e., mushrooms out of the 1.5 million studied fungi based on Chang & Miles (2004). These studies have stressed the importance of macrofungi in nature preservation and forestry organization different from agroecosystems (Straatsma et al 2001). Most of the terrestrial macrofungi are saprobic, mycorrhizal symbionts, but some of them are pathogens of plants or other fungi
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