- Proposed
- Under Assessment
- Preliminary Assessed
- Assessed
- DDPublished
Protogaster rhizophilus Thaxt.
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- Scientific name
- Protogaster rhizophilus
- Author
- Thaxt.
- Common names
- IUCN Specialist Group
Mushroom, Bracket and Puffball- Kingdom
- Fungi
- Phylum
- Basidiomycota
- Class
- Agaricomycetes
- Order
- Boletales
- Family
- Protogastraceae
- Assessment status
- Published
- Assessment date
- 2023-03-22
- IUCN Red List Category
- DD
- Assessors
- Susana C. Gonçalves; Susana Cunha (RBG Kew and University of Coimbrta, Portugal)
- Reviewers
- Gregory Mueller (Chicago Botanic Garden / IUCN SSC Mushroom, Bracket and Puffball Specialist Group)
Assessment Notes
The content on this page is fetched from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/266014658/266020585
Justification
Protogaster rhizophilus is only known from its type description, from specimens collected in 1895 from the roots of cultivated Viola. It is not possible to determine current population size so the species is assessed as Data Deficient (DD).Taxonomic notes
This is the only member of the monotypic genus Protogaster and the family Protogastraceae, which were erected to accommodate this species based on its distinct morphological characteristics (Zeller 1934). No phylogenetic studies or molecular data are available.Geographic range
This species is only known from Kittery Point in Maine in the United States of America (Zeller 1934).Population and Trends
The species is only known from collections made in 1895 in one locality (Zeller 1934). It may be a rare species, but the number of records is also certainly limited by its very inconspicuous fruitbodies, which are both hypogeous and small (0.1 to 0.5 mm in diameter). Given that it was found in association with Viola sp. roots, it may also have a large area of appropriate habitat and wider distribution. Without targeted search efforts it is not possible to estimate the current population size.
Population Trend: Unknown