Assessment Notes

Justification

This is a widespread and fairly frequent ectomycorrhizal fungus in the northern hemisphere, occurring in nutrient poor, older forest and forming ectomycorrhiza. It is conspicuous, easily identified and used as an indicator species for forests of conservation interest in Fennoscandia. The population in Europe is small and fragmented and with typically only few mycelia at each locality. The European population is thought to have declined, and continues to decrease due to felling of calcareous coniferous forests with long tree continuity. It is nationally assessed as threatened in multiple European countries. Globally, the decline in area and quality of available habitat has approached 30% over the last 50 years (three generations), and the decline in population size over this time could be higher, but is tentatively placed in the same range here. This decline in habitat is expected to continue over the next 50 years. Currently the population size probably exceeds 20,000 mature individuals. Overall, therefore, this species is assessed as Near Threatened A2c+3c+4c.

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Geographic range

The species is widely distributed in northern parts of Europe and North America. In Europe, its main occurence is in Fennoscandia and Russia. It also occurs more scattered in central and southern Europe. It is widespread across northern North America. Its occurrence in Asia is less well known, but it is reported from Armenia, China, Japan and Siberia.

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Population and Trends

Bankera fuligineoalba is widespread and the population is expected to exceed 20,000 mature individuals. The estimated total number of localities in Norway and Sweden is approximately 3,500 sites and for Fennoscandia may be about 5,000 including Finland (SLU Artdatabanken 2020, Artsdatabanken 2021). The European population is thought to have declined, and continues to decrease due to felling of calcareous coniferous forests with long tree continuity. Globally, the decline in area and quality of available habitat, mainly due to clear-cutting forestry, is suspected to range between 20 and 29% over the last 50 years (three generations); the decline in population size over this time could be higher, but is tentatively placed in this range. This decline in habitat is expected to continue.

Population Trend: Decreasing

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Habitat and Ecology

Bankera fuligineoalba is an ectomycorrhizal fungus associating with pine (Pinus sylvestris) in nutrient-poor, dry and sandy soil in older pine forests but also low-grass pine forests and rocky low-grass pine forests/berry heather forests with thin humus (Brandrud and Bendiksen 2014, Fraiture and Otto 2015). It also occurs in dimension-cut forests and younger forests with occasional older pines. Its mMycelium can be very long-lived and the species appears to have difficulty re-establishing itself after clear-cutting. In North America, it occurs with two and three needle pines.

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Threats

Being an ectomycorrhizal fungus, the main threat to the species is clear-cutting as in absence of living trees its mycelia wither and die.

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Conservation Actions

It is nationally Red Listed in several continental European countries (e.g. Vulnerable in Estonia; Endangered in Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania and Switzerland and as nationally Extinct in the Netherlands (Senn-Irlet et al. 2007, Arnolds and Veerkamp 2008, Fraiture and Otto 2015, Dämon and Krisai-Greilhuber 2017, Saar et al. 2019). In Fennoscandia it is assessed as Least Concern in Norway and Finland and Near Threatened in Sweden (Hyvärinen et al. 2019, SLU Artdatabanken 2020, Artsdatabanken 2021). In Canada it is assessed as apparently secure (Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council 2022). It is used as an indicator species for dry old-growth pine forests with potentially high conservation value (Nitare 2023).

Protection of known sites will be useful. It may also survive well in areas with forestry using carful selective cutting methods, so appropriate land management may be required. Research is desired to gain a better understanding of its ecology, in particular its population biology. Basic knowledge of if and to what extent it may survive and re-establish in areas subjected to forest management would facilitate a needed better management of this species.

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Use and Trade

The species is not known to be used.

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Source and Citation

Dahlberg, A. 2025. Bankera fuligineoalba. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T125433791A125435510. Accessed on 22 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence