Assessment Notes

Justification

Craterellus indicus is currently only known from a single locality in Himachal Pradesh, India, where it has been collected over several years. It is difficult to assess a fungus if it has only been recorded from the site of its description, if it does not have a conspicuous sporocarp, it is not easy to identify, there is limited knowledge of it spread and without extensive searches. In this case, with repeated collections over several years and knowledge of the species, it is estimated to be very rare as it not has been recorded anywhere else yet. 

With few obvious impacts of threats to the forest cover at this site, C. indicus is assumed to be stable. It is difficult to accurately estimate the population size, but at the very least it is assumed that the number of mature individuals at this site would exceed the Critically Endangered threshold under criterion D - and so the species would not be able to fall into any category from Least Concern to Critically Endangered, and thus could not be listed as Data Deficient. 

With its range in the Himalayas, landslides represent a plausible threat, and being known from this single locality, this is estimated to represent a single threat-based location. While a landslide event could rapidly impact the whole population at this site, the likelihood that it would happen in the very near future is low (albeit possible); and so a precautionary listing of Near Threatened under criterion D2 is given. However, this species appears to associate with Cedrus deodara, a widespread conifer of the Himalayas, and if C. indicus were to be found throughout the range of its plant associate then it would warrant reassessment.

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Geographic range

The type of this species was described from material found growing beneath Cedrus deodara in Chindi, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, at an altitude of 1,700 m (Kumari et al. 2011). Several further specimens of this species have been found in the same locality (Kumari et al. 2011).

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Population and Trends

With little obvious sign of habitat loss and degradation in the general area of the sole known locality (see World Resources Institute 2023) it is suspected that the population is stable.

This species has been found to grow in a caespitose to gregarious fashion (Kumari et al. 2011), with repeat collections over several years; suggesting a sustainable population at the single known site. There is no clear indication over whether the known collections would come from the same genet, or multiple genets in the same general area, making a population size estimate difficult. However, it is assumed that the population size would not be so small that the species could trigger a Critically Endangered listing under criterion D.

Population Trend: Stable

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Habitat and Ecology

This ectomycorrhizal species has been found on the soil under Cedrus deodara, within coniferous forest (Kumari et al. 2011).

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Threats

There is little to no forest cover loss in the region of the known locality for this species (see World Resources Institute 2023). However, given its single locality in the Himalayas, landslides would represent a potential threat to the species.

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Conservation Actions

Further research into this species’ potential threats and the full wild distribution would be useful.

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Use and Trade

There is no use/trade information.

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Source and Citation

Westrip, J.R.S. & Liddle, T.A. 2025. Craterellus indicus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T189310225A189329785. Accessed on 23 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence