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

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.