The references consulted for identifications and DNA reviews, in the order they are used.
Tier 1 — Names and nomenclature (check first, every ID)
| Source | Site | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Species Fungorum (Kew) | speciesfungorum.org | Current name + synonymy |
| Index Fungorum (Kew) | indexfungorum.org | Spelling, author, where published |
| GBIF species API | api.gbif.org | Detect synonymy (`status`, `acceptedUsageKey`) |
| iNaturalist taxa API | api.inaturalist.org | The name Will uploads under (`is_active`, synonyms); taxon change history at inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/<id> |
| MycoBank | www.mycobank.org | Registration of new names; MB number, authority, classification, synonyms |
| Madrid Code (ICN 2025, incl. Chapter F) | iaptglobal.org | Naming rules |
| Fungal Names (Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing) | nmdc.cn | The third official registration repository under ICN Art. F.5 (with S2 and S5); FN numbers appear in protologues of many Asian-described species |
Tier 2 — Species concepts: revisions, monographs, specialist sites
| Source | Site | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Open-access journals: MycoKeys (mycokeys.pensoft.net), Fungal Systematics and Evolution (fuse-journal.org), Studies in Mycology, IMA Fungus, Persoonia, PeerJ (peerj.com/articles/N — WF works; doi.org redirect needed a permission click, 2026-09-22); PubMed Central | Newest revisions — outrank everything below | |
| Tulloss et al., Amanitaceae.org (Amanita, Limacella, Catatrama; provisional sp-XX) — now hosted by Mushroom Observer | amanitaceae.mushroomobserver.org | THE Amanita reference for eastern North America: classification to stirps, measurements, look-alikes, range |
| Univ. Michigan Herbarium online monographs (Smith, Hesler; Smith & Thiers 1971 Boletes of Michigan) | quod.lib.umich.edu | Classic descriptions, microscopy |
| Smith, North American Species of Mycena (1947) PDF | alpental.com | Mycena |
| Smith, Pholiota (USDA PDF) | fs.usda.gov | Pholiota |
| Internet Archive full text (public domain): Coker, Clavarias of the US and Canada (1923) · Coker & Couch, Gasteromycetes of the Eastern US and Canada (1928) · Kauffman, Agaricaceae of Michigan (1918) | archive.org | Coral fungi; puffballs/earthstars/stinkhorns; general agarics |
| Coker, Amanitas of the Eastern US (1917) | babel.hathitrust.org | Amanita history |
| North American Flora vol. 9–10 (Murrill et al.) | Murrill agaric descriptions | |
| MykoWeb (Wood & Stevens) | mykoweb.com | Online reprints: Smith & Hesler, North American Species of Pholiota; Hesler & Smith, North American Species of Crepidotus; Thiers, Boletes of California |
| MushroomExpert.com (Kuo) | mushroomexpert.com | Eastern NA species concepts, keys, citations to literature |
| hebeloma.org (The Hebeloma team) — "Hebeloma morphology and characters" | hebeloma.org | Hebeloma: collecting tips, the macroscopic characters to record, and the microscopic characters (spore size, ornamentation and dextrinoid reaction; basidia; cheilo-, pleuro- and caulocystidia; pellis; clamps) with the site's measurement protocol |
Tier 3 — Regional and general identification aids
| Source | Site | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| texasmushrooms.org (Sergeev) | texasmushrooms.org | Gulf-region photos, ~1,200 species |
| Bessette, Bessette & Lewis, Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast States (2019) — intro pp. 1–7 and color key | degruyterbrill.com | Keys to groups only |
| Watling, Identification of the Larger Fungi (1973) | gutenberg.org | Group keys, collecting method |
| Kendrick, The Fifth Kingdom (website edition) | mycolog.com | Fungal biology, terminology |
| Character checklist "Simple & Advanced Characters With Taxonomic Value For Stipitate-Lamellate Mushrooms" (= Will's "Observation List", EXD) and "Intro To Identifying Fungi" (nolo_mode) | inaturalist.org | What characters to record |
| Host trees: ACES Key to Common Native Trees of Alabama (ANR-0509, rev. 2021) · Virginia Tech Dendrology factsheets | aces.edu | Confirming the host/associated tree |
| Wang, Liu & Xu 2017, Drying methods for mushroom DNA, Sci. Rep. 7:3008 | doi.org | Voucher drying for sequencing |
| Bessette, Bessette & Fischer 1997, Mushrooms of Northeastern North America (the page names this book; CORRECTION: not "North American Boletes", which is Bessette, Roody & Bessette 2000) — species descriptions on B. Horn's bolete pages | people.csail.mit.edu | Bolete descriptions, measurements |
| Alabama Mushroom Society charts: Latin colors; spore-print color indications | alabamamushroomsociety.org | Color terms, spore color groups |
Tier 4 — Evidence sources (observations and sequences, not authorities)
| Source | Site | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| iNaturalist observations | Labels are never corroboration | |
| Mushroom Observer API | mushroomobserver.org | Name records list multiple senses (e.g. *Amanita farinosa* Schwein. vs sensu Thiers vs sensu Zhu L. Yang — seen 2026-09-19); web pages need login |
| MycoMap, GenBank/BLAST, UNITE | A sequence anchors a name only from a vouchered/type specimen; UNITE WF blocked by robots.txt (2026-09-30); PlutoF public taxa API URL tried returned 404 | |
| MyCoPortal (NA herbarium records) | Old names on specimens | |
| FunDiS | fundis.org | Sequencing programs |
| Murrill et al., North American Flora vol. 9 (1907–1916), Polyporaceae, Boletaceae, Agaricaceae | archive.org | Murrill protologues (e.g. Gyroporus subalbellus p. 134) |
| MycoCosm — JGI (US DOE Joint Genome Institute) fungal genome portal | mycocosm.jgi.doe.gov | Whole-genome reference for a taxon: all ITS copies in one genome (checks dikaryon / intragenomic-variation calls, S46), genome-scale placement of a genus |
Tier 2b — DNA barcoding: methods, limits, species concepts (background literature)
| Source | Site | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| White, Bruns, Lee & Taylor 1990, Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In PCR Protocols (Academic Press) | Origin of the ITS1/ITS4 primers still used to amplify the barcode | |
| Taylor et al. 2000, Phylogenetic species recognition and species concepts in fungi. Fungal Genet. Biol. 31:21–32. doi 10.1006/fgbi.2000.1228 | GCPSR: species recognised by concordance of several gene genealogies — why one locus can't settle a split | |
| Lindner & Banik 2011, Intragenomic variation in the ITS rDNA region obscures phylogenetic relationships and inflates estimates of OTUs in genus Laetiporus. Mycologia 103:731–740. doi 10.3852/10-331 | research.fs.usda.gov | Multiple ITS copies in one genome can look like separate taxa |
| Schoch et al. 2012, Nuclear ribosomal ITS region as a universal DNA barcode marker for Fungi. PNAS 109:6241–6246. doi 10.1073/pnas.1117018109 | ITS adopted as THE fungal barcode: best overall success, clearest barcode gap; LSU better in some groups | |
| Spatafora et al. 2017, The Fungal Tree of Life: from molecular systematics to genome-scale phylogenies. Microbiol. Spectrum 5(5). doi 10.1128/microbiolspec.FUNK-0053-2016 | Higher classification (8 phyla, 12 subphyla, 46 classes) | |
| Lücking et al. 2020, Unambiguous identification of fungi: where do we stand and how accurate and precise is fungal DNA barcoding? IMA Fungus 11:14. doi 10.1186/s43008-020-00033-z | Current framework: integrative (polyphasic) taxonomy; "no single tool"; ITS a first diagnosis; verification crucial; alignment-based phylogeny preferred over pairwise similarity | |
| Bradshaw et al. 2023, Extensive intragenomic variation in the ITS region of fungi. iScience 26(8):107317. doi 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107317 | 641 of 2414 genomes had multiple ITS copies; ~65% of those varied — dikaryon/multi-haplotype consensus issues are common, not rare | |
| Shapkin et al. 2026, Limitations of common molecular markers in fungal biodiversity analysis and the benefits of their synergistic use. Mol. Ecol. Resour. 26(3):e70123. doi 10.1111/1755-0998.70123 | Mock community of 413 species: ITS2 alone detected 75.3%; ITS1+ITS2+EF1α 92.2% | |
| Nilsson et al. 2006, Taxonomic reliability of DNA sequences in public sequence databases: a fungal perspective. PLoS ONE 1:e59. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0000059 | "about 20% of the entries may be incorrectly identified to species level" — why a GenBank label is not corroboration | |
| Farid, Franck & Garey 2017, Boletus rubricitrinus belongs in Pulchroboletus. Czech Mycology 69(2):143–162 | czechmycology.org | P. rubricitrinus emended description, epitype, macrochemistry, Baldwin Co. AL specimens |
| Frank, Bessette & Bessette 2017, Alessioporus rubriflavus, a new species from the eastern US. North American Fungi 12(2):1–8, doi 10.2509/naf2017.012.002 | academia.edu | Alessioporus rubriflavus protologue |
| Crous et al. 2019, Fungal Planet description sheets 951–1041. Persoonia 43:223–425 (FP1029 Pulchroboletus sclerotiorum) | www.ebi.ac.uk | P. sclerotiorum protologue |
Text and data on this site: CC0 (no rights reserved), the same as Will's iNaturalist observations. · Built 2026-11-01 18:25.