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Diverse, Cryptic, and Undescribed: Club and Coral Fungi in a Temperate Australian Forest

Summary

Researchers surveyed mushroom-like fungi called club and coral fungi in a small Australian forest and used DNA testing to identify the species. They found that about 89% of the fungi they discovered were either new species or not yet recorded in scientific databases. This shows that even in a small area, there are many fungal species we have not yet discovered or properly studied.

Background

Fungi represent the least well-known kingdom of eukaryotes with only approximately 120,000 valid species names despite estimates of 2.2 to 10 million species existing. Australian fungi are particularly poorly characterized with at least 75% of species remaining undescribed, complicated by high endemism and frequent misidentification based on morphological similarity to Northern Hemisphere taxa.

Objective

To assess fungal species diversity data gaps by intensively surveying club and coral fungi in a small temperate Australian forest over two years. The study aimed to identify operational taxonomic units using ITS barcoding and determine what proportion of fungi in the target genera could be assigned species names based on DNA database matches.

Results

Analysis identified 80 operational taxonomic units from field specimens, of which only 11.25% could be assigned species names based on BLASTn matches to reference sequences. Accumulation curves indicated only approximately 50% of target species were recovered despite over 200 surveys. Multiple morphologically similar specimens were shown to be genetically distinct taxa, and seven times greater sampling effort would be required to approach species exhaustion.

Conclusion

Even in a small area of less than 100 km², approximately 89% of club and coral fungal OTUs represent novel taxa or species yet unrepresented in DNA databases. The findings highlight fundamental gaps in fungal taxonomy and the critical need for expanded fungal description efforts, increased mycological expertise, and comprehensive DNA database development.
  • Published in:Journal of Fungi,
  • Study Type:Field Survey and Molecular Analysis,
  • Source: 10.3390/jof11070502, PMID: 40985397, PMCID: PMC12298858
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