Assessment Notes

Justification

Cantharellus parvisporus is a species of miombo woodland in East Africa. A rare species, the population size is estimated to be in the range 2,200-22,000 mature individuals (but using a best estimate range of 4,400-11,000), which are assumed to fall into one subpopulation. Rapid habitat loss is thought to be the cause of a population decline in this species as its ectomycorrhizal hosts are exploited and removed. Therefore, using the best estimate for the population size, C. parvisporus is assessed as Vulnerable under criterion C2a(ii).

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Geographic range

Cantharellus parvisportus is only known from miombo woodland of East Africa. It has been collected from around Morogoro in Tanzania, and there are unpublished records from Burundi (Buyck et al. 2000). It is unlikely that it is restricted to these two areas, with suitable habitat in the surrounding region, but it is a rare species (Buyck et al. 2000), and due to the lack of any, currently known, records from outside of East Africa it is assumed to only occur in eastern miombo.

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Population and Trends

This is a rare species that is not found fruiting in large numbers (Buyck et al. 2000). In Tanzania it is known from two localities near to each other, and it is estimated that there would be only a small number (i.e. two) of genets at each site. Based on the amount of suitable habitat the total number of sites within the country is estimated to be 50 to 100 times higher (i.e. 100-200 sites), and using a scaling factor of 10 mature individuals per genet (per Dahlberg and Mueller 2011) this would give a population size within Tanzania of 2,000-4,000 mature individuals.

It is more difficult for Burundi, as specific site details are not published, but noting its rarity there may be only 10-20 sites in this country. Assuming a similar density per site as for Tanzania, this would give a population size there of 200-400 mature individuals. Thus the total population size could be considered to be 2,200-4,400 mature individuals. However, the species may be more widespread throughout eastern miombo outside of Tanzania and Burundi, and the overall population size could even be 5-10 x higher than this (11,000-22,000 mature individuals). This would give a full range of 2,200-22,000 mature individuals for the population size. The true figure is expected to be somewhere between the upper boundary of the minimum estimate range and the lower boundary of the maximum estimated range, i.e. 4,400-11,000 mature individuals.

It is presumed that naturally all individuals would be considered to fall into a single subpopulation, although habitat fragmentation may be impacting the population structure now. Further investigation into this is required. As a result of the high levels of anthropogenic impacts on the habitat, the population of this species is assessed as being in decline.

Population Trend: Decreasing

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Habitat and Ecology

This is a species of Brachystegia woodland that has been reported in areas with a variety of potential ectomycorrhizal partners (see Buyck et al. 2000). These include B. micropylla, B. spiciformis, Albizia gummifera, Combretum molle, Dalbergia nitidula, Markhamia obtusifolia and Terminalia myrtifolia as well as the introduced Eucalyptus camaldulensis (Buyck et al. 2000).

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Threats

There has been a high degree of deforestation within the miombo woodlands of Tanzania (Abdallah and Monela 2007). Key threats driving such trends include logging for charcoal production and use of the land for agricultural practices (Abdallah and Monela 2007). As an ectomycorrhizal species, the loss of the host trees will have a detrimental impact on the fungus.

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Conservation Actions

Some records come from an area within the Mikumi National Park. Ensuring effective protection and management of areas of suitable habitat for this species will be important, which will likely require engagement with local communities.

Further surveying effort is required to get a clearer knowledge of how widespread the species is within miombo woodland in Tanzania, and to get a clearer idea of the genetic structure of the population; both at individual sites and in the entire population.

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Use and Trade

This is an edible species (Kabacia and Muchane 2023).

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Source and Citation

Westrip, J.R.S. 2025. Cantharellus parvisporus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T272057697A272057703. Accessed on 22 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence