Mycoflora of Water Pools in The Vicinity of Some Ancient Pharonic Temples in Upper Egypt

Seventy species in addition to an unidentified isolate belonging to forty-three fungal genera were isolated during this investigation. From these fungi, 18 species in addition to an unidentified isolate of Pythium are related to 12 zoosporic fungal genera and 52 species to 23 terrestrial fungal genera. Saprolegnia ferax, Allomyces arbuscula and Pythium undulatum were the most common genera among the zoosporic fungi whereas Gibberella fujikuroi, G. intricans and Aspergillus niger were the most common terrestrial fungal species. The samples of Abidos temples (Sohag) were the richest with zoosporic fungal species whereas the samples of the sacred lake (El-Karnak temple) were the richest with terrestrial fungal species on two used media (glucose and celulose Czapek's agar media. There are no specific fungal flora concerning these historical areas. There are variations concerning the frequency and population of zoosporic and terrestrial fungi according to the type of sample (Water or mud) as well as to the site of sampling and to the type of media (glucose and cellulose).