An annotated checklist of macrofungi occurring in Gozo

Abstract

Records of macrofungi from Gozo are few and underrepresented when compared to those found in mainland Malta. During the present study, almost 150 samples were mostly collected from six main locations in Gozo between October 2019 and April 2021. From this sampling effort, 70 species of macrofungi were identified to species level, of which 60 were new records for Gozo and 47 were new records for the Maltese Islands. Thirty-five species of macrofungi were previously recorded from Gozo in a number of publications. Thus, the total number of macrofungi occurring in Gozo currently adds up to 95 species. Two species collected during the present work were found to be new to science of which one, Xylaria melitensis was published in 2021 and the other will be formally described shortly. For each of the 47 new records of macrofungi for the Maltese Islands, a detailed account on examined material, ecology, macro- and micro- morphology and notes related to taxonomy and species identification is provided. Two previously published species were found to be based on misidentifications, thus Polyporus brumalis (a red-listed species) and Pisolithus arrhizus should refer to Polyporus meridionalis and Pisolithus albus respectively. An annotated checklist of all the 95 species occurring in Gozo is given and information on locations of each are included. Several threats that local macrofungi are currently being exposed to, have been discussed based on this pilot study on the island of Gozo.