The first checklist of fungi known for Honduras: revealing taxonomic, geographical, and functional trends

By

Mortier, Libelje
Vanhoomissen, Ruben
Davies, Lee
Kirk, Paul M
Maciá-Vicente, Jose G.
Piepenbring, Meike
Haelewaters, Danny

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-12-5

Original Publication

MycoKeys

Volume

126

Pages

93--117

Subjects

Biodiversity , Central America , Conservation , Ecology , Mesoamerica , Mycology , species list , species richness

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2011-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.126.169230

 

Abstract

Fungi play pivotal roles in ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. Despite their ecological importance, fungal research remains limited, particularly in tropical regions. Many tropical countries, including Honduras, still lack a comprehensive fungal checklist. To address this gap, we compiled the first fungal checklist for Honduras by collating data from Index Fungorum, MyCoPortal, the Kew Data Portal, and published literature. The resulting dataset contains 1365 species across 4011 records, of which 96.6% are true fungi and 3.4% are fungus-like organisms. Among the true fungi, 69.8% belong to Basidiomycota and 29.4% to Ascomycota. A large percentage of the records refer to plant pathogens (42.4%), reflecting a relatively high number of phytopathological studies and a focus on fungal associations with plant species. Species accumulation curves indicate that all administrative divisions (departments) of Honduras remain understudied, as none have reached saturation. This checklist is a fundamental resource tool for fungal identification and conservation planning and contributes to a broader understanding of fungal biodiversity in the region.