13 EXTINCT FUNGI AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - BIOLOGY - 2025

There are many extinct species of fungi, and it is not only plants or animals that are on the verge of disappearance, but some species of the fungi kingdom run the risk of leaving planet Earth forever.

Sadly, as with other living beings, the global list of extinct fungi grows a bit more, being a real problem due to the important role they play in the global ecosystem.

Many species of fungi are threatened by loss of habitat, loss of symbiotic hosts, pollution, overexploitation, and climate change. Even so, many of the fungal species have not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List.

You may also be interested in this list of extinct animals.

List of extinct fungi

1- Archaeomarasmius

It is an extinct genus of lamellar fungus in the Tricholomatacease family. It is known since two specimens preserved in amber were recovered.

This fungus is just one of five species of agaric fungus found in fossil records, and the only one that has been discovered in New Jersey amber.

2- Gomphus clavatus

It is an edible species of fungus of the Gomphus gene, native to Eurasia and North America. It is known by the common name of "pig's ears."

Its body is shaped like a glass with wavy edges around it; reaches up to 17 cm in height and 15 cm in width. Its color can be from an orange brown to lilac.

Discovered in the year 1774, it has had several name changes and several alternative scientific names. It is normally associated with coniferous trees.

Although it was once very common, it is extinct in many parts of Europe and all of the British Isles.

3- Paleoophiocordyceps coccophagus

It is an extinct parasitic fungus belonging to the Ophiocordycipitaceae family. It was found in Burmese amber from the Cretaceous period. Its morphology is very similar to other species of Ophiocordycipitaceae.

The only known specimen consists of two fruit-like floating bodies emerging from the head of a male insect.

4- Cortinarius cumatilis

This species became extinct in England in the year 1868. The youngest specimens are characterized by having a kind of veil, between the cap and the stem. Many of the fibers in this curtain later disappear without a trace.

5- Palaeoagaracites

It is an extinct species of a laminated mushroom of the order Agaricales. It was discovered in walking deposits in Myanmar. It is one of the five known species of agaric mushrooms, being the oldest and the only one found in Burmese amber.

This fungus is probably the oldest evidence of a parasitic fungus acting on another fungus. Its prototype corresponds to a single part, without any associated structure, which measures approximately 3 cm. Its flesh is blue-gray in color and is hairy.

6- Lepiota locaniensis

It is a species of fungus endemic to Chile. It belongs to the genus Agaricaceae and has not been seen in about 50 years, so it can be considered an extinct species.

It used to bloom from May to June, at the time it lived its habitat consisted of grasses and semi-arid vegetation. He was the protagonist of several cases of mushroom poisoning, first reported in 1935.

7- Leptoporus mollis

Leptoporus a fungus genus found in the Polyporaceae family. It is a monotypic species, which means that it contains only one species of Leptoporus mollis.

It is spread throughout areas in the north with temperate climates. It has been extinct in the UK area since 1957. The factors that led to its extinction were the loss of its habitat and poor land management.

8- Buellia asterella

It is a lichen of the Caliciaceae family. It used to be found in large isolated areas of dry grass, from Italy, to England, all the way up to southern Norway. It is believed to have originated in Germany.

It is currently extinct in all of its global locations except three. His last sighting at a British site occurred in 1991.

Two of the four sites in Germany where its occurrence was documented in the last 30 years were visited in 2015 and the species could not be found.

Its immediate cause of disappearance seems to be the loss of habitat thanks to urban and agricultural development.

9- Protomycena

It is an extinct genus of a laminated fungus of the order Agaricaceae. At present, it contains a single species, the Protomycena electra; discovery of a preserved specimen in an amber mine in the Cordillera Septentrional area of ​​the Dominican Republic.

Its body has a convex cap of about 5 mm, with distantly spaced lamellae at the bottom. This specimen does not have a ring.

10- Erioderma pedicellatum

It is a foliose lichen of the Pannariacenae family with a hairy appearance. It grows in damp trees along the Atlantic coast.

Occasionally its lobes reach 12 cm in diameter. It has a distinctively hairy surface that is grayish-brown when dry and blue when wet.

It has completely disappeared in Norway, Sweden, and the New Brunswick area in Canada. The greatest threat to this species is the destruction of its habitat due to environmental pollution.

eleven-

Described by Dawson in 1859, it was a terrestrial fungus of the Ascomycota phylum. At first it was thought to be part of lichens due to its physical characteristics. He lived between the Silurian and Devonian geological periods.

12-

Species of the same genus as the previous one. This was described in 1952 by Arnold and took the form of interlocking hypha-like tubes. It is estimated that they lived about 420 million years ago.

13-

One of the most recently described species of fossil fungi (Honegger, 2017). It belonged to the Devonian period and was distributed throughout Canada. Until recently they were thought to be variants of Prototaxites loganii. They measured between 1 and 8 mm and their habitat remains unknown.

Some interesting facts about mushrooms

Mushrooms are an indispensable element, essential not only for humans but also for all of nature.

For example, some species of fungi recycle waste products and waste products from other plants, as well as return their materials back to the ground.

Other species of fungi are easily absorbed by other members of the ecosystem. Although we usually associate fungus with food, they additionally have many uses for human life, such as penicillin, which is extracted from a fungus.

Mushrooms can appear in many sizes and colors. So far more than 14,000 species have been scientifically classified. However, even more species are waiting to be discovered.

Although each species of fungus has a different construction, they generally have several parts in common: the cap, the lamellae, the ring, the cup, and the stem.

The role of fungi is to spread spores so that they can easily reproduce. The seeds are tiny and can be easily spread by wind, water, or animals.

References

1. Lost life Project. Recovered from speciesrecoverytrust.org.uk.
2. Lepiota locaniensis. Recovered from rchn.biologiachile.cl.
3. Erioderma pedicellatum. Recovered from iucnredlist.org.
4. Buellia asterella. Recovered from iucnredlist.org.