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
The ''Westerdijk Institute'', or Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The institute was renamed on 10 February 2017, after Johanna Westerdijk, the first female professor in the ...
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
Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...
experts and found in accordance with the ICN (), 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
Life Science Identifiers are a way to name and locate pieces of information on the web. Essentially, an LSID is a unique identifier for some data, and the LSID protocol specifies a standard way to locate the data (as well as a standard way of descr ...
, 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.new combination
In Taxonomy (biology), biological taxonomy, a combinatio nova (abbreviated comb. nov. or n. comb.) refers to the formal renaming of an organism's scientific name when it is transferred to a different genus, reclassified within a different specie ...
s obtained their registration numbers from MycoBank, suggesting broad adoption by the mycological community. The system serves as a critical infrastructure for tracking valid publication
In botanical nomenclature, a validly published name is a name that meets the requirements in the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (''ICN'') for valid publication. Valid publication of a name represents the minim ...
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
Further reading
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External links
* {{Official website
Mycology databases
Online taxonomy databases