Cantharellus carneoflavus is an endemic species of chanterelle of Borneo. It has only been recorded from just south of Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. While there is insufficient information to ascertain a population size or area of occupancy (AOO), it has only been recorded from a very restricted extent of occurrence (EOO) of 85.5km2. This may be an underestimate, but as Mt. Kinabalu has a relatively high degree of endemism, it is plausible that the species is endemic to this region and so the EOO is unlikely to exceed the thresholds for Endangered under criterion B1. Based on the known range, and the major threats of land conversion for tourism developments and agriculture, and assuming it could occur throughout the EOO, the species is considered to occur at at least two locations but likely fewer than five. Thus, C. carneoflavus is assessed as Endangered under criterion B1ab(iii).

Chanterelle species

This species is known to occur in the Malaysian state of Sabah, in northern Borneo (Corner 1969). There are no recent collections of this species (I. Olariaga Ibarguran pers. comm. 2022) but specimen data held in GBIF from Corner’s original collections (see GBIF.org 2023) show the species to be only recorded from the state of Sabah. These specimens do not have georeferenced co-ordinates, but while GBIF.org (2023) notes collection sites to be in Sarawak or Indonesia, these are in error, because the named collecting sites of Mesilau and the Bembangan River are both just to the south of Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah.

While there is insufficient information to accurately calculate an area of occupancy (AOO), a minimum convex polygon encompassing the recorded sites for this species gives an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 85.5 km2. Based on the impact of ongoing threats from tourism developments and agriculture, the number of locations within the EOO is estimated to be between two and five.

Without any modern collection records it is very difficult to come up with an accurate population size estimate. However, in the area that it has been recorded from there is ongoing forest cover loss, and there are areas that have been completely cleared in the past (see World Resources Institute 2023). Therefore, a population decline is suspected.

It is likely that this species occurs within rainforest, given the collecting localities.

There is ongoing forest cover loss within the known range of the species (see World Resources Institute 2023). In particular, around the Mesilau area there has already been significant land use changes, with drivers including for tourism development and agriculture (Tsen et al. 2021).

Further research is required into this species. The most pressing work to be done is to investigate whether the species persists at the known historical localities, and then to ascertain the full distribution, focussing on whether it occurs within the Kinabalu National Park. Other work could investigate the life history and ecology of the species.