A Review of Neotropical Myxomycetes (1828-2008)

Abstract

A synthesis of the accumulated knowledge on myxomycetes recorded from the Neotropical region is presented in this paper. The biodiversity of these microorganisms in the Neotropics has been underestimated, and this paper shows that half the known species in the world have been recorded from the region. The monograph by M.L. Farr, for the series Flora Neotropica, published in 1976, has been taken as a baseline. The records produced after this date, some older obscure records, and data from recently published catalogues, monographs and other papers have been incorporated. The information is presented in a table format by species and countries. Species names are listed with synonyms that have been used in Neotropical literature and nomenclature has been updated. A comprehensive list of references by country has been included. A characteristic assemblage of myxomycetes from the Neotropics has been identified. The richness of myxobiota in different countries has been evaluated, and gaps in current information and unexplored areas have become evident from the results. Use of the compiled information to direct conservation plans, and to serve as a starting point to establish and develop future strategies for the study of myxomycetes in this area of the world, is discussed. The importance of prioritizing this research on microorganismal biodiversity, in view of accelerated habitat destruction, is stressed. Se realiza una síntesis sobre el conocimiento actual de los Myxomycetes en el Neotrópico. La biodiversidad de estos microorganismos en la región neotropical ha sido subestimada, pero este trabajo demuestra que la mitad de las especies conocidas en el mundo se han citado de esta región. La monografía que M.L. Farr publicó en 1976, para la serie Flora Neotrópica, se ha tomado como punto de partida para la realización de este trabajo. A ella se han incorporado las citas publicadas después de esta fecha, algunas más antiguas pero raras, y datos de catálo-gos, monografías y otros trabajos recientes. La información se presenta en una tabla de doble entrada, por orden alfabético de especies y por países. La nomenclatura de las especies se ha actualizado y se han añadido los sinónimos con los que han sido citadas en la bibliografía neotropical. También se incluye una lista de referencias bibliográficas por países. Se ha podido identificar un conjunto de especies de Myxomycetes que, por su abundancia de citas en los países neotropicales, parecen características de la región. Se evalúa, por países, la riqueza de su mixobiota y se ponen de manifiesto la falta de información y los escasos estudios que se han llevado a cabo en determinados territorios de esta región biogeográfica. Se discute y comenta el uso que se puede dar a esta información recopilada, como punto de partida para establecer y desarrollar estrategias de estudio sobre los Myxomycetes en esta parte del mundo. Por último, se llama la atención sobre la importancia y prioridad que se debe dar a la investigación sobre biodiversidad de microorganismos, a la hora de valor...

Does elevation influence the distributional patterns of tropical myxomycetes? A case study in Costa Rica

“…This morphospecies is known to have a wide distribution in the Neotropics (see Lado and Wrigley de Basanta 2008) and thus, the logical interpretation is that it represents an entity able to occur across a wide range of ecological conditions. However, our results suggest that some factors may be accountable for the elevational differences, particularly in the FC transect, where most of the records for the species were found.…”

Myxomycetes ocorrentes em áreas de caatinga e brejo de altitude no sertão de Pernambuco, Brasil

“…Exsicatas representativas do material estudado foram depositadas no herbário UFP. A distribuição mundial e nos Neotrópicos baseou-se em Martin & Alexopoulos (1969), Farr (1976) e Lado & Basanta (2008); a distribuição nas regiões e biomas do Brasil baseou-se em Cavalcanti et al (2008), Bezerra et al (2009), Alves et al (2010), Agra et al (2010), ) e Cavalcanti (2012. O índice de diversidade taxonômica (S/G) e a semelhança entre o conjunto de espécies registradas nas áreas de estudo (CC) foram avaliados segundo Novozhilov et al (2006).…”

“…Comentários: espécie cosmopolita, com registros em 12 países neotropicais, presente tanto em florestas úmidas como em vegetação típica de regiões áridas (Lado et al 2003;Lado & Basanta 2008;Estrada-Torres et al 2009). Com raros registros no Brasil, desenvolve-se preferencialmente em ambientes úmidos, incluindo os que constituem enclaves florestais no bioma Caatinga, como referido por Cavalcanti & Putzke (1998), Alves & Cavalcanti (1996) e Alves et al (2010) para o Ceará.…”

Diversity patterns, ecological associations and future of research on Costa Rican myxomycetes

“…This dataset contained 242 species in 40 genera, providing further evidence of the richness in the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot (see Figure 1). These values represent around 25% of the myxomycete species known in the world, more than double the known species in Cuba, the best-known country in the Caribbean biodiversity hotspot, and more than 50% of the species recorded by Lado and Wrigley de Basanta (2008) for the Neotropics. The ACE and iChao 1-estimator values for the maximum number of species based on the current dataset were 274 and 295 species, respectively.…”

“…In the case of myxomycetes, for instance, comparisons of diversity across Central American countries do not reflect natural patterns and are simply the product of sampling schemes. For instance, the study of myxomycetes in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama started in the early part of the 1900s, contrasting dramatically with incipient myxomycete research in El Salvador or Belize, which started in the last 20 years (see Lado and Wrigley de Basanta 2008; Rojas et al 2013). …”