Fungos Gasteroides (Basidiomycota) na Área de Proteção Ambiental Piquiri-Una e no Parque Estadual Mata da Pipa, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

Abstract

The gasteroid fungi comprise a group of organisms with great morphological diversity, represented by several distinct lineages of basidiomycetes which, although not sharing the same ancestors, have common characteristics such as the angiocarpic development of the basidiomata and the passive basidiospores dispersion. Besides having influence on the ecology of the most varied ecosystems, its importance has also been demonstrated in several areas such as biotechnology, medicine, forestry and gastronomy. The Atlantic rainforest fragments, the focus of this research, harbor important richness and diversity of gasteroid fungi. However, these sites are increasingly present in anthropic action and are at risk of destruction. During the last years, the efforts of the brazilian mycologists have contributed to the expansion of the knowledge about gasteroid fungi in the country mainly through the discovery of new species. The Rio Grande do Norte state has areas of extreme biological importance with great species richness, but the studies already carried out are concentrated in a few areas. Thus, this study aimed to determine the diversity of gasteroid fungi in two still unexplored remains of Atlantic rainforest in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and, thereby, to fill gaps in taxonomic knowledge about the richness of species of these organisms in that region. For that, fourteen field trips were carried out from May to September 2016 and March to July 2017. The herborization and analysis of the specimens followed the methodology traditionally adopted in studies of gasteroid fungi. The identification of the specimens was carried out based on the specialized literature. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of potentially new or critical species was realized. Twenty species were identified, distributed in 7 genera [Abrachium (1 sp.), Clathrus (1 sp.), Cyathus (3 spp.), Geastrum (12 spp.), Phallus (1 sp.), Scleroderma (1 sp.), and Tulostoma (1 sp.)]. Of these, four are new species to science, 5 constitute new records for Brazil and 7 for Rio Grande do Norte. With these results, there was an increase of about 14.6% in the list of gasteroid fungi for the state of the Rio Grande do Norte, 4.1% for the Northeast, 1.5% for Brazil and 2.2% for the Atlantic rainforest. The Piquiri-Una Environmental Protection Area and Mata da Pipa State Park, were shown to be favorable for the development of gasteroid fungi, including the discovery of new species. Therefore, inventories in areas of the Atlantic rainforest are still extremely essential and urgent mainly in unexplored areas.