Macrofungi of Brant County, Norfolk County, and Waterloo Region, Ontario

In Ontario, baseline knowledge of the diversity and biogeography of macrofungi is lacking compared to other taxonomic groups such as vascular plants and vertebrates. In 2023 and 2024, I completed an inventory of the macrofungi of three municipalities in Ontario’s Carolinian Zone using a combination of historical data, field surveys, and citizen science. Over 9,000 occurrence records of macrofungi were gathered from various sources, including over 1,000 specimens and photo vouchers collected through field work. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region – the molecular barcode for fungi – was generated for 164 specimens. A total of 1,040 taxa were identified, including six species not previously known from Canada, 36 species considered to be provincially, nationally, or globally threatened, and 136 regionally rare species. At least nine species are identified as restricted to the Carolinian Zone in Canada. The resulting annotated checklist is the first municipality-level inventory of macrofungi in Ontario.