Assessment Notes

Justification

Linmoperdon incarnatum is a freshwater fungal species that grows on floating hardwood. It is not commonly recorded but appears to have a very wide distribution and is likely under-sampled. The population size is estimated at 42,000 mature individuals with no evidence of population decline, so the species is assessed as Least Concern (LC).

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Taxonomic notes

Limnoperdon incarnatum is so far the only accepted species in the monotypic genus Limnoperdon and family Limnoperdaceae, established based on its distinct morphological characteristics (Escobar et al. 1976). It has since been placed within Agaricales using phylogenetic data (Matheny et al. 2006). A more recent study reported the presence of a second Limnoperdon species in the River Nile in Egypt (Abdel-Aziz 2016), but it has not yet been described.

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Geographic range

Even though its distribution limits are not well defined, Limnoperdon incarnatum appears to have a very wide distribution. So far it has been recorded in United States, Canada, Japan, South Africa and Austria (Michaelides and Kendrick 1982, Webster et al. 1993, GBIF.org 2023).

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Population and Trends

Limnoperdon incarnatum has only been recorded at a few sites (around 13), but the total number of localities is likely to be much larger considering the very inconspicuous fruitbodies (small globose/subglobose basidiocarps, 1 mm or less in diameter) and wide distribution and area of potential habitat. By applying a large multiplier for unknown sites (x 1,000), and following guidelines by Dahlberg and Mueller (2011), the population size is estimated at 42,000 mature individuals.

Population Trend: Unknown

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Habitat and Ecology

This species grows on floating hardwood in freshwater habitats, such as marshes, ponds and margins of rivers and streams but also in rice paddy fields and brackish water. Most observations of its fruitbodies have been made in laboratory conditions on previously submerged twigs. It has been recorded growing on Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia but did not grow on Pinus strobus under similar conditions (Michaelides and Kendrick 1982, Webster et al. 1993).

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Threats

No threats have been identified for this species.

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Conservation Actions

No specific conservation actions are known to be needed for this species.

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Source and Citation

Cunha, S.P. & Gonçalves, S.C. 2025. Limnoperdon incarnatum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T266002346A266019774. Accessed on 23 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence