Volume 1 · No. 2 · December 2010 V o lu m e 1 · N o ... - IMA Fungus

IMA Fungus · volume 1 · no 2: 123–142
The history, fungal biodiversity, conservation, and future
perspectives for mycology in Egypt
Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem
ARTICLE
Botany Department, Faculty of Science, University of Suez Canal, Ismailia 41522, Egypt; e-mail: zemo3000@yahoo.com
Abstract: Records of Egyptian fungi, including lichenized fungi, are scattered through a wide array
of journals, books, and dissertations, but preliminary annotated checklists and compilations are not
all readily available. This review documents the known available sources and compiles data for more
than 197 years of Egyptian mycology. Species richness is analysed numerically with respect to the
systematic position and ecology. Values of relative species richness of different systematic and
ecological groups in Egypt compared to values of the same groups worldwide, show that our knowledge
of Egyptian fungi is fragmentary, especially for certain systematic and ecological groups such as
Agaricales, Glomeromycota, and lichenized, nematode-trapping, entomopathogenic, marine, aquatic
and coprophilous fungi, and also yeasts. Certain groups have never been studied in Egypt, such as
Trichomycetes and black yeasts. By screening available sources of information, it was possible to
delineate 2281 taxa belonging to 755 genera of fungi, including 57 myxomycete species as known from
Egypt. Only 105 taxa new to science have been described from Egypt, one belonging to Chytridiomycota,
47 to Ascomycota, 55 to anamorphic fungi and one to Basidiomycota.
Key words:
checklist
distribution
fungal diversity
lichens
mycobiota
species numbers
Article info: Submitted: 10 August 2010; Accepted: 30 October 2010; Published: 10 November 2010.
INTRODUCTION
Biological diversity (biodiversity) encompasses the variety
of life forms occurring in nature, from the ecosystem to the
genetic level, as a result of evolutionary history (Wilson
1992). The idea that fungi form a kingdom distinct from plants
and animals gradually became accepted only after Whittaker
(1969). Presently, the “fungi” as a mega-diverse group span
three kingdoms, most belonging to the Fungi (Eumycota),
while others are classified in the Protozoa and Chromista
(Straminipila) (Cavalier-Smith 1998, James et al. 2006b).
The word “fungi”, lower case and not in italics, is commonly
used as a collective term for organisms traditionally studied
by mycologists from all three kingdoms (Hawksworth 1991).
The myxomycetes have also been traditionally studied by
mycologists (Everhart & Keller 2008, Rojas & Stephenson
2008), and are included here.
Estimates for the number of fungi in the world range up to
ca. 13.5 M species (McNeely et al. 1990, Hawksworth 1991,
2001, Hawksworth & Kalin-Arroyo 1995, Hyde 1996, Hyde et
al. 1997, Tangley 1997, Groombridge & Jenkins 2002, Brusca
& Brusca 2003, Rossman 2003, Crous et al. 2006, Adl et al.
2007, Kirk et al. 2008). It might be expected that the predicted
numbers of fungi on Earth would have been considerably
greater than the 1.5 M suggested by Hawksworth (1991),
which is currently accepted as a working figure although
recognized as conservative (Hawksworth 2001).
The 10 th edition of Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the
Fungi (Kirk et al. 2008) provided a total of 98 998 for the
number of fungal species accepted to date (excluding taxa
treated under Chromista and Protozoa). Kirk et al. (2008)
reported 1 039 species chromistan fungal analogues and
1 165 as protozoan in which 1 038 are regarded as protozoan
fungal analogues: Percolozoa (Acrasida), Amoebozoa
(Dictyostelia, Myxogastria, Protostelia), Cercozoa
(Plasmodiophorida) which were previously treated as
Myxomycota and Plasmodiophoromycota.
Egypt’s geographical position at the junction between two
large continents (Africa and Asia), and its inclusion as part
of the Mediterranean basin, has indelibly influenced both the
people and the biota of the country socially, economically
and biologically. Egypt is part of the Sahara of North Africa,
it has an area of about 1 M km 2 , divided by the River Nile
into a western part including the Libyan Desert (681 000
km 2 ) and an eastern part comprising the Eastern Desert (223
000 km 2 ), and the Sinai Peninsula (61 000 km 2 ). The Nile
basin, comprising the valley in the south (Upper Egypt) and
Nile delta in the north (Lower Egypt), forms a riparian oasis
(40 000 km 2 ) that constitutes the densely inhabited farmlands
of Egypt.
© 2010 International Mycological Association
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