A Checklist and Worldwide Distribution Patterns of Macrofungi in Iran

Although West Asia potentially represents one of the diversity hotspots for several groups of fungi, our knowledge of the funga in this region is fragmentary. Here, we provide a list of macrofungal species from Iran and performed a comparative analysis of macrofungal diversity in 12 regions worldwide. The list was compiled from relevant national/international conference letters, GenBank submissions, and published literature in Persian, English, and other languages. In total, 1333 species of macrofungal Asco - and Basidiomycota are listed which were reported from 31 provinces of Iran. We have classified the reported fungi into 12 predefined morphogroups, with most of them being agaricoid species (60%). The Hyrcanian forests that stretch along the Caspian Sea coast in northern Iran are the most species-rich region. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) was used to check the number of worldwide occurrences of the reported species which revealed a total of 17 species were exclusively reported from Iran. We suggest that globally rare or low-occurrence species from Iran require global attention and potentially can contribute to the IUCN list of endangered species. Based on comparisons between the macrofungi of Iran and that of various countries, the Iranian species composition is found to be similar to those of the Mediterranean regions.