Assessment Notes

Justification

Cantharellus defibulatus is suspected to be a very widespread chanterelle of sub-Saharan Africa. Based on current information it is not suspected to approach the thresholds for listing as threatened and so is assessed as Least Concern.

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Taxonomic notes

Cantharellus defibulatus was originally described as a variety of C. cibarius (Heinemann 1966).

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Geographic range

Cantharellus defibulatus was originally described from southern Democratic Republic of Congo (Heinemann 1966). Further records of this species do come from this part of the country as well as from National Parc Fazao-Malfakassa, Togo (see De Kesel et al. 2016), and it is consumed in Burundi (Degreef et al. 2016). There are also records held in GBIF.org (2021) from Zambia, Gabon and Madagascar. However, the records from Madagascar represent a separate species (C. sebosus), and this is a species of woodland, as opposed to rainforest (Buyck et al. 2013), and so with the Gabon record coming from gallery forest (Botanicalcollections.be 2021), this brings into question this record too. However, with records from both southern-Central Africa and West Africa, it is likely to have a very large range.

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Population and Trends

This is a rare species in Democratic Republic of Congo (De Kesel et al. 2017). However, with records from both southern-Central Africa and West Africa, it is likely to have a very large population size.

Population Trend: Unknown

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Habitat and Ecology

This species occurs in miombo woodland in southern-Central Africa, and other woodland habitats in West Africa (see De Kesel et al. 2017).

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Threats

Miombo woodland is facing a range of threats, as are wooded habitats in West Africa. These include practices such as logging and land clearance for agriculture (Jew et al. 2016).

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Conservation Actions

Further research to identify the full extent of this species’ range and ecological requirements would be useful.

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Use and Trade

This species is considered edible (Degreef et al. 2016, De Kesel et al. 2017).

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Source and Citation

Westrip, J.R.S. 2025. Cantharellus defibulatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T269709951A269709953. Accessed on 24 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence