Although poorly known, this relatively recently described species appears to be a very threatened taxon. The information provided here is from a paper by Martin Cheek and Thomas Læssøe.
This species is known only from the type specimen collected in June 1992 in the Mabeta-Moliwe Forest (also known as Bimbia-Bonadikombe), the largest intact area of forest in the eastern foothills of Mount Cameroon in the South-West Province of Cameroon. The area of the forest is estimated to be 36 km².
No current estimation of population size or trends is available. However, fungi in the tropics are severely under-collected and it is quite possible that this species could be discovered elsewhere if more collections of Xylaria were made in the Gulf of Guinea region. The genus is known to be under-collected, as at least ten other species of tropical African Xylaria are known only from their type collections (Læssøe et al. 1996).
Population Trend: Uncertain
The species grows in leaf litter on the ground in lowland tropical rain forest. Xylaria species are usually found growing on rotting wood.
The forest where this species occurs is being impacted by the expansion of oil palm plantations (Elaeis guineensis).
The only known site should be given some degree of protection.
Efforts are required to see if the species occurs elsewhere.
Læssøe, T. and Cheek, M. 2002. A new Xylaria (Xylariaceae, Ascomycota) from Cameroon. Kew Bulletin 57: 687-691.
Læssøe, T., Ryvarden, L., Watling, R. and Whalley, A.J.S. 1996. Saprophytic fungi of the Guineo-Congo Region. In: I.J. Alexander, M.D. Swaine and R. Watling (eds), Essays on the ecology of the Guineo-Congo rain forest. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, B 104: 335-348.
Country | Trend | Redlisted |
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