The numbers of fungi: are the most speciose genera truly diverse?

Fungi play vital roles in ecosystems as endophytes, pathogens and saprobes. The current estimate of fungal diversity is highly uncertain, ranging from 1.5 to 12 million, but only around 150,000 species have been named and classified to date. Since the introduction of DNA based methods for species identification, the number of newly described taxa has increased from approximately 1000 to around 2000 yearly. This demonstrates the importance of DNA based methods to identify and distinguish species, especially cryptic species. Many novel species from recent studies have been found in historically understudied regions and habitats, but these still represent only a small percentage of the estimated species. In this paper, we examine 16 genera from the top 40 most speciose genera as listed in Species Fungorum as case studies to examine the diversity of taxa in each genus. The genera treated herein are Cercospora, Diaporthe, Meliola, Passalora, Phyllachora, Phyllosticta, Pseudocercospora, Ramularia (ascomycetes) and Cortinarius, Entoloma, Inocybe, Marasmius, Psathyrella, Puccinia, Russula, Uromyces (basidiomycetes). We critically evaluate the number of species in these genera and correlate these numbers with the number of entries in GenBank. We introduce 18 new species Apiospora multiloculata, Candolleomyces thailandensis, Cortinarius acutoproximus, Cortinarius melleoalbus, Cortinarius pacificus, Cortinarius parvoacetosus, Diaporthe guizhouensis, Entoloma pseudosubcorvinum, Inocybe meirensongia, Marasmius albulus, Marasmius obscuroaurantiacus, Meliola camporesii, Phyllachora siamensis, Phyllosticta doitungensis, Picipes yuxiensis, Pseudocercospora vignae, Puccinia maureanui and Russula inornata. We also introduce a new record of Candolleomyces cladii-marisci and Inocybe iringolkavensis. We discuss the genera Colletotrichum and Pleurotus that are speciose, but do not occur in the top 40. We hypothesize whether there might be more species in these genera and discuss why these genera have some of the largest number of species.

Automated summary

Fungi play important roles in ecosystems, but their diversity is still uncertain. The importance of DNA-based methods for species identification and differentiation has been demonstrated. Many new species have been discovered in understudied regions and habitats in recent studies.