• Proposed
  • Under Assessment
  • Preliminary Assessed
  • VUAssessed
  • Published

Cupreoboletus poikilochromus (Pöder, Cetto & Zuccher.) Simonini, Gelardi & Vizzini

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Scientific name
Cupreoboletus poikilochromus
Author
(Pöder, Cetto & Zuccher.) Simonini, Gelardi & Vizzini
Common names
 
IUCN Specialist Group
Mushroom, Bracket and Puffball
Kingdom
Fungi
Phylum
Basidiomycota
Class
Agaricomycetes
Order
Boletales
Family
Boletaceae
Assessment status
Published
Proposed by
Catia Canteiro
Assessors
Susana P. Cunha, Susana C. Gonçalves
Comments etc.
James Westrip, Catia Canteiro
Reviewers
Gregory Mueller

Assessment Notes

Attention: Since the date of assessment of the species Species Fungorum has changed its taxonomic placement to Cyanoboletus poikilochromus (Pöder, Cetto & Zuccher.) M. Carbone, D. Puddu & P. Alvarado. No article is cited, only Index Fungorum 534: 1 (2023).
The placement in Cupreoboletus was based on phylogenetic data from 2015 and I have not been able to find any more published information to justify the change to Cyanoboletus as of Sep 2023.
Cyanoboletus is not a monotypic genus.

Justification

Cupreoboletus poikilochromus occurs the European and West Asian regions of the Mediterranean basin, where it is though to be ectomychorrizal with Fagaceae, mainly Quercus spp. It is a rare species with a small estimated population size of 4000 mature individuals, and its largest subpopulation is estimated to be below 1000 individuals. Population decline is expected due to habitat reduction and degradation, which will likely increase in the future. Though population decline is difficult to establish, a decline above 10% in 50 years (3 generations) is likely due to habitat reduction and degradation. Therefore the species is assessed as Vulnerable (VU) under criterion C2a(i) due to small population size of all small subpopulations and continuing decline.


Taxonomic notes

Was only known species in the Cupreoboletus genus, which was established in 2015 based on morphological and molecular data.

Now listed as Cyanoboletus poikilochromus (Pöder, Cetto & Zuccherelli) M. Carbone, D. Puddu & P. Alvarado,
      comb. nov.  IF 556234
Effectively published 19/04/2023 15:36:00 (ISSN 2049-2375)
Index Fungorum no. 534.  Nomenclatural novelties : M. Carbone, D. Puddu & P. Alvarado
  Basionym: Boletus poikilochromus Pöder, Cetto & Zuccher., in Pöder, Mycol. helv. 2(2): 156 (1987)

Synonyms: Boletus poikilochromus, Suillellus poikilochromus, Boletus martaluciae, Boletus pulverulentus f. reticulatipes (Species Fungorum 2023, Gelardi et al. 2015)


Why suggested for a Global Red List Assessment?


Geographic range

Cupreoboletus poikilochromus is distributed along the Mediterranean basin in Europe and Western Asia. It is found in Italy (regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Lombardia, Marche, Puglia, Tuscany, Sardinia, Sicily, Veneto, Piedmont and Umbria), Spain (regions of Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca), Portugal (Baixo-Alentejo), the island of Corsica in France, Cyprus, Greece (islands of Corfu, Lesvos and Crete, George Konstantinidis, pers.comm.) , Slovenia and Israel.
GBIF.org also includes occurrences in Sweden and Canada resulting from DNA/RNA sequencing of soil samples. However, since no sporocarps have been reported outside of the Mediterranean region, they are not considered in this assessment.


Population and Trends

C. poikilochromus has been documented in at least 40 sites: 21 in Italy, 8 in Spain, 4 in Greece (George Konstantinidis, pers.comm.), 3 in Israel and listed (at least one location) for France (Corsica island), Portugal, Slovenia and Cyprus (GBIF.org, Gelardi et al., 2015, Biketova et al., 2016, Wagensommer et al., 2022, Vasquez, 2014, Acquaviva and Stagioni, 2015, Parra and Domínguez 2016). This species is rarely recorded despite being conspicuous and is considered uncommon to rare in all its distribution. Therefore, the total number of sites is estimated at 400 by applying a small multiplier for unknown sites (x10). Considering 10 mature individuals per site, total population size is estimated to be approximately 4000 mature individuals, following the guidelines by Dahlberg and Mueller (2011).
The Northern and Central regions of Italy (localities in Piedmont, Lombardia, Veneto, Emilia Romana, Tuscany, Lazio, Abruzzo and Marche) are thought to comprise the largest subpopulation and its size is estimated to be at most 840 mature individuals (14 localities with 10 mature individuals each, and including a small multiplier for unknown locations (x6)).
The population of this species is likely to be in decline caused by a reduction and degradation of habitat due to the threats and pressures on Mediterranean forests. Given the wide range of hosts, population decline through decrease in habitat area and quality is difficult to establish. However, Global Forest Watch shows a percentage of tree cover loss (>30% canopy density) above 4% between 2001 and 2021 for all countries where this species has been found. Since threats are likely to continue or worsen in the future, this rate can be expected to continue, which corresponds to a decrease in 10% or more in 50 years (3 generations for ectomycorrhizal species following Dahlberg and Mueller (2011)). For Italy and Spain, which harbour most known locations, deforestation for 50 years is estimated at 11.25% and 32.5%, respectively.

Population Trend: Decreasing


Habitat and Ecology

Found in thermophilous broad-leaved and mixed forests, in calcareous soils. It is thought to be ectomycorrhizal, usually found in association with Fagaceae, mainly Quercus spp. (Q. suber, rotundifolia, ilex, coccifera, faginea, pubescens, x cerrioides and alnifolia). It has also been found in the presence of Pinus spp., Ostrya carpinifolia and various shrubs (Crataegus sp., Juniperus sp., Cistus albidus, Arbutus unedo, Erica arborea, Pistacea lentiscus and Buxus sempervirens). Solitary to gregarious, summer to early autumn. (Gelardi et al. 2015, Biketova et al., 2016) In Umbria, Italy its habitat was identified as Pannonian-Balkanic turkey oak-sessile oak forests (EU Habitats Directive type 91M0) (Wagensommer et al., 2022)

Temperate ForestMediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation

Threats

C. poikilochromus is threatened by changes in land management, namely land abandonment, forest cutting and agricultural intensification, leading to forest degradation and fragmentation. Climate change also presents a threat to this species through increasing fire frequency and intensity, warmer temperatures and drought, that may lead to desertification, changes in habitat distribution and expansion of invasive alien species. (FAO and Plan Bleu, 2018)
Though its Quercus spp. hosts have been assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Q. suber and Q. pubescens are decreasing in population size. (Barstow and Harvey-Brown, 2017, Jerome and Vazquez, 2018)

Housing & urban areasShifting agricultureAgro-industry grazing, ranching or farmingIncrease in fire frequency/intensityNamed speciesHabitat shifting & alterationDroughtsTemperature extremes

Conservation Actions

Cupreoboletus poikilochromus was assessed as Endangered in the regional red list of Boletales species of Apennine province ecoregion and EU-habitats of Central Italy (Wagensommer et al., 2022), but is not included in national red lists, despite it small population size.
Some known locations are part of national parks and reserves and therefore thought to be protected. Nevertheless, monitoring and protection of known locations is needed, especially outside of protected areas, as well as better land management in areas of appropriate habitat (e.g. prevention of grazing, fire and forest cutting).

Site/area protectionResource & habitat protection

Research needed

Further surveys and more information on distribution and host preference are needed to better establish distribution and population size. Monitoring of known locations is recommended.

Population size, distribution & trendsLife history & ecologyPopulation trends

Use and Trade

Considered edible after cooking, but not recommended (Biketova et al., 2015).

Food - human

Bibliography


Country occurrence

Regional Population and Trends

Country Trend Redlisted