Mycophagy by rodents in a temperate forest of Central Mexico

The mycophagy by rodents in hypogeous fungal species has been widely documented in different ecosystems around the world. However, the consumption of epigeos fungi by this group has been poorly studied. In this study we evaluated the mycophagy by 2 mice species (Neotomodon alstoni and Peromyscus maniculatus) in the epigeous ectomycorrhizal fungi Russula aff cuprea. Experimentally tests were carried out to see if these mice species have a preference to consume a specific structure of the fungus (pileus, hymenium or stipe). Also, we analyzed if the passage of this fungus through the digestive tract has an effect on the sporal metabolic activity. Our results indicate that although the whole sporocarp can be consumed, the hymenium (fertile part of the sporocarp) was the first structure selected by both mice species. Furthermore, we found that the passage of the fungus by the digestive tract of the 2 mice species does not have a significant effect on the sporal metabolic acivity (p = 0.06) of Russula aff. cuprea, suggesting that these mice species could be effective sporal dispersers of this epigeous fungi in the National Park La Malinche.