Craterellus albostrigosus is currently only known from a single locality, the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute campus, in Kerala state, India, where it has been recorded fruiting on multiple occasions. As a botanic garden, it is assumed that this area is under a degree of protection from external threats and so the population there is assumed to be stable. At this site the population size is estimated to be very small, at 50-100 mature individuals.

The full distribution of the species is uncertain, and this could then have an impact on the potential final category and criteria. There is ongoing forest cover loss in the wider region (see World Resources Institute 2023), but this would not at be a rate to qualify the species as threatened under criterion A. However, if the population were to be found to be more widespread and in decline then it could qualify under criterion C, albeit the population size estimate would be larger (suspected to be in the low thousands). To counter this, the wider area does also include several protected areas, where the species could persist under protection, and the population size could be significantly larger (i.e. 10,000 mature individuals).

Taking everything into account the range of plausible categories C. albostrigosus is from Endangered to Least Concern. Thus the species cannot be listed as Data Deficient, as that would require the species to qualify for anything from Critically Endangered to Least Concern. Conservatively estimating that there could be 10x the number of known sites, the best estimate population size is placed at 500-1,000 mature individuals, with an uncertain population trend. Therefore, C. albostrigosus is assessed as Vulnerable under criterion D1.

Chanterelle species

This species has only ever been recorded from the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute campus in Palode, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala, India, where it has been reported on multiple occasions (Bijeesh et al. 2018).

As it is currently only known from within the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute campus, it is presumed to be under a degree of protection, and there have been multiple records of the species from this site (see Bijeesh et al. 2018). Therefore, it could be tentatively suspected that the population at th is site is stable. Most likely, the species also grows at yet unknown places but is apparently very rare as it has not been recorded except within the Botanicalo Gareden. The surrounding wider area both includes protected areas, and areas where there is ongoing forest cover loss (see World Resources Institute 2023). So if it is more widespread then its population trend is more uncertain.

With the large number of records from this single locality, the number of functional individuals there is estimated to be between five and ten. Using a scaling factor of 10 (per Dahlberg and Mueller 2011, for terrestrial fungi), this would then equate to 50-100 mature individuals at this site. Whether the species is truly restricted to this one site is uncertain, but if it were more widespread then the population size could be far larger than this (into the low thousands if only just more widespread into the surrounding area; and potentially >10,000 mature individuals if it were to occur even more widely into the protected area landscape). Here we estimate it being present in at at least 10 more sites and totally consisting of more than 1000 mature individuals.

This species occurs in tropical evergreen forest (Bijeesh et al. 2018), where it has been found as either solitary or scattered fruiting bodies on mud walls or earthworm mounds (Bijeesh et al. 2018). It has been recorded fruiting between June and November (Bijeesh et al. 2018). Collections were made near to Hopea parviflora (Bijeesh et al. 2018), so this could potentially be an ectomycorrhizal partner plant.

Its presence within the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute campus does offer the species a degree of protection. However, there is ongoing forest cover loss in the wider area around this site (see World Resources Institute 2023), so if it were slightly more widespread than this site it could be impacted by such losses. That said, nearby areas also include several protected areas where, if the species occurs, it would exist under protection.

Further research into this species’ full present wild distribution is required, and such work can also gain a greater insight into its potential association with Hopea parviflora.

The taste is described as ‘mild but not distinctive’ (Bijeesh et al. 2018), but whether it is widely consumed is unknown.