New records of myxomycetes for Central America and comments on their regional distribution

Abstract

Several studies on myxomycetes in Central America during the last decade have greatly increased the information on the morphological species present in the different countries of that region. Herein we present a list of 71 new records compiled for four different countries in Central America including 37, 23, 19 and 9 unreported species for Panama, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, respectively. This newly available information was collected by all authors in different field surveys across the region. Results showed that, as information became available, the distribution of most species extended across Central America, as expected from an ecological point of view. The present effort is an important contribution for the development of baseline data on myxomycete fruiting bodies in Central America for biological monitoring in the context of adverse ecological processes and potential negative effects of climate change on microbial biodiversity.