Aphroditeola olida is a rare and peculiar fungus with a typical candy-like smell and small pink cantharelloid sporocarps on coniferous forest floor in Europe and North America. It grows in two types of old forests, oligotrophic calcareous spruce forests and pine forests on sandy soil. Its lifeform is not yet well understod.

In Europe, it is nationally red-listed (NT-VU) in the countries where it has its major occurences. In Canada, it is assessed as Apparently Secure, roughly equivalent to NT. Its habitats, in particular in Fennoscandian where it has its main occurence in Europe, have been seriously declining, mainly due to forestry. The status and trend of its habitat in N America is considered to be similar.

The overall decline of the forest habitats of A. olida is estimated to be about of 25 % in 50 years (three generations considering it to be an ectomycorrhizal fungus) and predicted to continue to decline. The population size is inferred to undergo a similar decline, approching 30%. The species is thus assessed as NT (A2c+3c+4c).

Aphroditeola olida may be a cryptic species. It has been suggested, that the populations in dry pine forest and oligotrophic calcarous forest in Europe may be two different taxa (Nitare 2023). Similarily, may the populations in North America correspond to different taxa. In this assessment, the species is considered as a monotypic genera and assessed as one taxon.

It is mainly a boreal species distributed in Europe (Fennoscandia, the Alps and the Pyrenees) and in North America around the Rocky Mountains and from the Cascades mountains and north along the Pacific West coast to Alaska. It is also recorded in the North-East of the US and in the Quebec-region of Canada (GBIF Secretariat (2023). Probably also present in the European part of Russia, but confirmed records are lacking.

Aphroditeola olida is a small but eye-catching and easy species to recognize that is well known and much looked after. It only occur with a few mycelia (genets) within known sites, typically less than five. In Europe It is known from approx. 300 sites in Fennoscandia (+50 localities in Norway, +150 in Sweden, and +50 sites in Finland) and +50 sites in the Alps and Pyrenees (Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria). In North America, it is reported from about +100 sites, maninly from Rocky mountains in Oregon to the north and from the northeastern part of USA. It is nationally red-listed in Norway (VU; Artsdatabanken (2021), Sweden (VU; SLU Artdatabanken 2020), Finland (NT; Hyvärinen et al 2019), Denmark (DD, recorded once in 1954; Moeslund et al 2023), Switzerland (NT; Senn-Irlet et al. 2007) and Austria (NT; Dämon and Krisai-Greilhuber 2017). France, Italy and Spain lacks national fungal Red List. It is assessed as Apparently Secure in Canada (Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council. 2022). The main proportion of the population occurs in forests that have not previously been clear-cut. The populations in Europe were redlist assessment has been conducted, are estimated to have decreased, and continue to decrease mainly due to clearcutting and decreasing area of old growth coniferous forests. In Canada, it is assessed as Apparently Secure roughly corresponding to NT in the system of IUCN. Aphroditeola olida is considered as an exclusive and top-ranked indicator of forests with high conservation values (Nitare, 2023). The status and trend si more uncertain in north America.

The number of known sites with A. olida is less than 500 and the total number to be less tha 2500. Probabably, the total number of mature individuals globally exceeds 20 000, assuming 2500 sites each estimated to have with 3-5 genets and each fragmented into 3 mycelial clones (mature individuals, cf. Dahlberg and Mueller, 2011). Coniferous forests are being clearcut at a rate of about 1 percentage annually in Fennoscandia and is probably approching a similar rate in N America. The population size is inferred to undergo a similar decline, at least approching 30%, assuming its lifeform being mycorrhizal. Three generations of ectomycorrhizal fungi are estimated to be 50 years (Dahlberg and Mueller, 2011).

The lifeform of Aphroditeola olida is uncertain (Nitare, 2023). It has earlier often considered to be a saprotroph, but it may rather be ectomycorrhizal. It is an easily recognizable fungus with small pink cantharelloid fruit bodies with a fragrant candy-like smell on coniferous forest floor. Its typical habitat is old calcaroeus mossy spruce forests and in old pine forests on sandy soil. It has been suggested that A. olida in these two contrasting forest habitats may represent different taxa (Nitare 2023). In oligotrophic calcareous spruce forests, it is often found associated with fungus Ramaria pallida.This coral fungus is not present in pine forest, hence neither this association. In Nort America, it is rare but have a wide distribution and seems to occur in in oldgrowth forests of both spruce, fir and Douglas fir, and also at both dry and wetter sites.

It is primarily threatened by clearcutting of old-growth coniferous forests. No records are known from replanted forests after clear cutting.

To prevent decline and further fragmentation, it is important to set aside reserves where A. olida is present. These sites typically house several other rare and habitat specific species, often nationally red-listed mycorrhizal fungi, both in calcarous spruce forests and in sandy pine forests. It can also be important to establish sites with a less strict conservation regime, such as woodland key biotopes.

The lifeform of A. olida should be investigated. It shuld also be clarified if taxon in the two different forest types is the same, or rather consists of phylogenetically closely related taxa. The life cycle and population dynamics, e.g. conditions required for mycelial establishment, mycelial longevites and genetic diversity of local populations should be investigated. Also a better documentation and analysis of impact of forestry would be desirable. Finally, more documentation on the te staus and trends of the habitats is needed from N America.

This species is not used.

Artsdatabanken (2021). Norsk rødliste for arter 2021. (Red-listed species in Norway 2021).  Artsdatabanken, Trondheim. ISBN: 978-82-92838-56-3

Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council. 2022. Wild Species 2020: The General Status of Species in Canada. National General Status Working Group: 172 pp.

Dahlberg A & Mueller G. 2011. Applying IUCN red-listing criteria for assessing and reporting on the conservation status of fungal species. Fungal Ecology 4: 1-16

Dämon, W and Krisai-Greilhuber, I. (2017). Die Pilze Österreichs. Verzeichnis und Rote Liste 2016.

GBIF Secretariat (2023). Aphroditeola olida (Quél.) Redhead & Manfr.Binder. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-11-17.

Hyvärinen, E., Juslén, A., Kemppainen, E., Uddström, A. & Liukko, U.-M. (eds.) 2019. The 2019 Red List of Finnish Species. Ympäristöministeriö & Suomen ympäristökeskus. Helsinki. 704 p

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Nitare J. 2023. Skyddsvärd skog: naturvårdsarter och andra kriterier för naturvärdesbedömning (In Swedish: Protected forest: nature conservation species and other criteria for nature value assessment). 3rd ed. Skogsstyrelsen. Jönköping. ISBN 987-91-986297-0-5

Senn-Irlet B., Bieri G and Egli S. (2007). Rote Liste Grosspilze. Rote Liste der gefährdeten Arten der Schweiz Ausgabe 2007.

SLU Artdatabanken (2020). Rödlistade arter i Sverige 2020. (Red-listed species in Sweden 2020) SLU, Uppsala ISBN 978-91-87853-54-8