Assessment Notes

Justification

Clathrus argentinus is a saprotrophic fungal species found growing on decaying wood and litter. Despite being easily recognised in the field due to its bright pink basidiomata, the species is considered rare and likely endemic to the Gran Chaco ecoregion. Despite the lack of data about the species distribution and its population trends, C. argentinus has the potential to be threatened. However, without further information, this species is assessed as Data Deficient.

---

Geographic range

Clathrus argentinus is known from semi-arid region of Argentina and urban areas of Paraguay. The type specimen was first recorded from the Province of Jujuy, Argentina in 1985. Thirty five years later, two additional specimens were collected including in the department of Central, Paraguay (Dominguez de Toledo 1985, Campi et al. 2021). This is considered a rare species but is expected to occur in dry forest and bushvelds in the Gran Chaco ecoregion.

---

Population and Trends

The species is believed to be endemic to the Gran Chaco ecoregion but further research is needed to confirm its distribution. It is not possible to infer population trends due to the small number of records and the lack of data about the species' distribution and its niche.

Population Trend: unknown

---

Habitat and Ecology

Clathrus argentinus has a gregarious habitat, with few basidiomata, next to roads or urban areas. It is saprotrophic and grows on decaying wood and litter. It is easy to recognise the species in the field due to its bright pink basidiomata that stands out from the substrate (Dominguez de Toledo 1985). It is found in summer months after rains.

---

Threats

Currently, the Chaco ecoregion is considered a global deforestation hotspot (Hansen et al. 2013, Baumann et al. 2017, Kuemmerle et al. 2017). Between 1985 and 2013, more than 20% of the Chaco forests was converted to grasslands for cattle and croplands (Romero-Muñoz et al. 2019). The use of pesticides for cultivation of soy and the fires for clearing forest for cattle ranching are associated to the threats of the species' habitat.

---

Conservation Actions

The main action to preserve the species is the protection of its known habitat and creation of new conservation areas to harbor the probability of conservation in situ. Also, ex situ conservation, if viable, should be performed to conserve the genetic diversity of species. Further investigation is necessary to better document the distribution and understand the biology of the species around the natural ecosystem. Moreover, the use of molecular data for phylogenetic analysis is important to test the morphology and to understand the evolutionary relationships within genus, as well as test the viability of strains for ex situ conservation of the species.

---

Use and Trade

No use/trade is known.

---

Source and Citation

Maubet, Y., Campi, M.G., Niveiro, N., Pelissero, D., Sánchez, R., Ranieri, C., Hernandez Caffot, M.L., Robledo, G. & Torres, D. 2023. Clathrus argentinus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T238217921A245224007. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T238217921A245224007.en .Accessed on 3 January 2024

---

• Country occurrence