A preliminary census of the macrofungi of Mount Wellington, Tasmania- the Agaricales

Abstract

The macro fungi of Tasmania are part of a kingdom of living organisms that is poorly known in Australia; most species are unnamed and undescribed. The present work represents an initial attempt at identifying the rich mycobiota of Mount Wellington, one of Tasmania' s best-known and most-studied regions for other plant groups. Attention is confined to the 'gilled' fungi, the order Agaricales. The agarics of Mount Wellington comprise a very large group, and in the 15 families recognised, 130 previously named and described species are differentiated and presented here. The true number of species is at least twice that many, as some large families have been inadequately studied in Australia. For example, in the family Entolomataceae, we believe there are over 50 distinct species in the genus Entoloma and at least four species in the genus Rhodocybe on Mount Wellington.