MycoBank is an online database, documenting new

mycological Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

names and combinations, eventually combined with descriptions and illustrations. It is run by the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. Each novelty, after being screened by nomenclatural experts and found in accordance with the ICN (

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

), is allocated a unique MycoBank number before the new name has been validly published. This number then can be cited by the naming author in the publication where the new name is being introduced. Only then, this unique number becomes public in the database. By doing so, this system can help solve the problem of knowing which names have been validly published and in which year. MycoBank is linked to other important mycological databases such as

Index Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. As of 2015, the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and th ...

, Life Science Identifiers,

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around th ...

(GBIF) and other databases. MycoBank is one of three nomenclatural repositories recognized by the

Nomenclature Committee for Fungi International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the location rotati ...

; the others are ''Index Fungorum'' and Fungal Names. MycoBank has emerged as the primary registration system for new fungal taxa and nomenclatural acts. According to a 2021 analysis of taxonomic innovations in lichen and allied fungi between 2018–2020, 97.7% of newly described taxa and 76.5% of new combinations obtained their registration numbers from MycoBank, suggesting broad adoption by the mycological community. The system serves as a critical infrastructure for tracking valid publication of new fungal names, though it operates alongside other repositories like Index Fungorum and Fungal Names. While MycoBank is widely used for obtaining registration identifiers as required by the International Code of Nomenclature for fungi since 2013, it maintains a complementary role to Index Fungorum, which continues to serve as a commonly used system for querying general nomenclatural information about fungal names. Registration numbers must be obtained after manuscript acceptance but before publication for new names to be considered validly published.

References

External links

* {{Official website Mycology databases Online taxonomy databases

References

Further reading

External links