Hidden diversity of wild macrofungi in oak (Quercus spp.) forests of Kroumiria (northern west of Tunisia): occurrence, rarety and new records

Kroumiria region in northwestern of Tunisia is one of the richest floristic area with wide range of vegetation communities where wild mushrooms are very frequent. Studies on diversity of wild mushrooms are of great value as many macrofungi are facing threat of extinction because of manifold anthropogenic actions. The current study deals with the diversity of wild mushrooms, including edible species, in pure and mixed oak forests of Kroumiria area and its neighboring regions. Surveys were conducted from September 2004 to August 2017 which includes forests of Ghar Dimaou, Fernana, Ain Draham, and Tabarka districts. A total number of 482 mushroom (including 42 Ascomycota) species belonging to 164 genera, 74 families and 28 orders were recorded. It was found that i) Agaricales order (Basidiomycota group) was dominant with 206 species and 54 genera belonging to 15 families, Pezizales order (Ascomycota group) was the richest with 31 species and 15 genera belonging to 10 families, iii) high diversity species was found to be within the Tricholomataceae family with 79 taxa. The richest genera were Russula (Russulaceae) with 28 species, Amanita (Amanitaceae) and Boletus (Boletaceae) with 24 and 21 genera, respectively. In this study, 337 mushrooms were identified to be newly cited to the Tunisian fungus flora including many interesting species known for their medicinal properties.