Synonymous with Heimiella kinabaluensis Corner, Heimioporus kinabaluensis (Corner) E. Horak, ?Heimiella subretispora Corner, ?Heimioporus subretisporus (Corner) E. Horak, ?Heimiella anguiformis R. Heim, Heimioporus anguiformis (R. Heim) E. Horak.
Collections from lowland rain forests and montane forests could represent two separate but very similar species.

This ectomycorrhizal fungus grows in tropical lowland dipterocarp and montane Fagaceous forest which is decreasing in area.

On soil in tropical lowland dipterocarp and montane Fagaceous forest (dominated by Quercus spp. Lithocarpus sp., Castanopsis sp., Anisoptera sp.). In Malaysia, it has been found in Fagaceous forest on Mt. Matang-Poe, Sarawak, and at 1600 m asl, Mt. Kinabalu, Mersilau, Sabah, and in lowland dipterocarp forest in the states of Perak and Johor in the peninsula. It has also been found in lowland rain forest in Singapore. In Papua New Guinea, it was collected from Castanopsis-Quercus forest, 1500-1800 m asl, Valles de Minj et Moyenne, Waghi while in Thailand it was found in mixed dipterocarp forest and hill evergreeen Fagaceous forest.

It is estimated that Southeast Asia lost 293,000 square kilometers (113,100 square miles) of forest between 2000 and 2014, more than 11 per cent of the total forest cover in 1999. Of this, 200,000 square kilometers (77,200 square miles) of forest loss occurred in lowland forest and the rest in the highlands, most of which was due to conversion to cropland (Palminteri, 2018). While lowland rain forest in South East Asia is dominated by members of the important timber tree family, the Dipterocarpaceae, hill and montane forests are dominated by members of the Fagaceae. Heimioporus mandarinus is ectomycorrhizal with members of both these families. Thus, it would be negatively impacted by the loss of these forests in South East Asia.

Heimioporus mandarinus is an ectomycorrhizal fungus which grows in association with dipterocarps and fagaceous hosts in lowland rain forests and in hill and montane forests where numerous species of dipterocarps, Quercus, Lithocarpus and Castanopsis are found.

Deforestation and changes in land-use resulting in habitat loss and loss of ectomycorrhizal host trees.

Some protected forest areas are already in place, e.g. national parks, forest reserves, etc.  Forest fragmentation should be avoided and more areas of good quality forest need to be conserved and/or protected in lowland, hill and montane forest.

More detailed studies of collections from lowland forest and from hill and montane forests need to be carried out to determine whether they are all the same species or different species. Long-term inventories and surveys are needed for better information on its distribution.

Not utilised.

Corner, E.J.H. 1972. Boletus in Malaysia. Government Printer Singapore. 263 pp.
Horak, E. 2005. Heimioporus E. Horak gen. nov. - replacing Heimiella Boedijn (1951, syn. post., Boletales, Basidiomycota). Sydowia 56: 21-24.
Horak, E. 2011. Revision of Malaysian Species of Boletales s.l. (Basidiomycota) Described by E.J.H. Corner (1972, 1974). Malayan Forest Records No. 51. Forest Research Institute Malaysia. 283 pp.
Palminteri, A. 2018. Southeast Asian deforestation more extensive than thought, study finds. https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/southeast-asian-deforestation-more-extensive-than-thought-study-finds/