Assessment Notes

Justification

A high-altitude species from the Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades range in eastern California (USA), known only from two collections. It has not been found again at the type locality despite yearly mycological courses at that site. It has not been detected in scats of small mammals or other environmental sources. Habitat loss due to forest fires and forest logging (timber industry) are possible threats. Suitable habitat is available, but has not been extensively explored yet. It could potentially be listed as Critically Endangered or Endangered under criteria  B, C and D, however, given that there is suitable habitat which has not yet been extensively investigated, it is assessed instead as Data Deficient. Surveys are required to determine the true status of this species.

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Taxonomic notes

The current name for this species is Lepiota viridigleba (Castellano) Z.W.Ge, Castellano & M.E.Sm. (Ge and Smith 2013).

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Geographic range

Known from two locations: the campus of the San Francisco State University’s Sierra Nevada Field station along Highway 49, Plumas National Forest, Sierra County (California, USA), and east of McCloud, in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County (California, USA).

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Population and Trends

Only known from two sites where it has been collected. The type locality is investigated every year in the right season during a mycology course, and the species has never been found again since its discovery in 1987,

Population Trend: unknown

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Habitat and Ecology

A hypogeous fungus, presumably saprotrophic, known from two sites with slightly different habitat:
1. in mixed conifer wood with Populus, at around 2,100 m a.s.l. (Castellano 1995);
2. in Abies concolor/Abies magnifica forest at around 1,500 m a.s.l.

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Threats

Fire is the main threat in these dry mountains of California. Forest fires have been suppressed for the last century, and the fires that occurred in the last years are much more intense than before and impact large areas (see for instance information on a wildfire in 2013, the Rim Fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rim_Fire). It is not known if these threats are impacting this species or not.

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Conservation Actions

Further filed work is required to determine the full range, population size and trends of this species, plus to determine what may be threatening it.

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Use and Trade

The species is not used, it is probably poisonous.

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Source and Citation

Vellinga, E. 2015. Lepiota viridigleba. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T76195538A97167996. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T76195538A76195541.en .Accessed on 4 February 2025

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• Country occurrence