Proceedings of the 7th and 8th Symposia on Collection Building and Natural History Studies in Asia and the Pacific Rim,
edited by Y. Tomida et al., National Science Museum Monographs, (34): 51–61, 2006.

History and the Current Status of Fungal Inventory
and Databasing in Japan
Tsuyoshi Hosoya
Department of Botany, National Science Museum
4–1–1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–0005, Japan(e-mail: hosoya@kahaku.go.jp)

Abstract Due to the regional broadening in south and north, Japan embraces a wide range of diversified organisms, and Fungi are not the exception. In spite of relatively long historical background ininventory of Japan’s mycobiota, first compiled in 1905, much information remains to be added. Currently, rearrangement and databasing of the specimens in the mycological herbarium in National Science Museum (TNS) have been carried out, and some of the data is publically available. To extend
the collection, strategic collection building, based on analysis of the specimens at hand and collaboration with other parties, are required. GBIF, an international biological databasing project, provides agood opportunity to integrate information of specimens conserved in the major mycological herbaria
in Japan.
Key words:

database, GBIF, Mycological Herbarium, TNS.

Introduction
The biodiversity of the fungi is vast. Some of them form large fruiting bodies known asmushrooms, toadstools, and vegetable wasps, but many of them form smaller fruiting bodies invisible without a hand lens, and the molds are invisible even to the naked eye. All these organisms, however, are formed by filamentous stands of catenulate cylindrical cells, called “hyphae”.
Various estimations have been proposed for the total numbers of fungi (e.g. Kirk et al.,2001). Roughly, the number of species of fungi is estimated between 80 thousand to 1 million(Hawksworth, 1991). The estimated number of species of fungi is the second largest among organisms on earth, following the insects (Gibbs, 2001). Although most of the fungi are invisible tothe naked eye, many of them are important in our daily life. Fungi are good natural resources not
only as food, but as other useful products. On the other hand, fungi can be deliterious, acting as
pathogens that infect both our bodies and vegetables grown for food.
Japan is located between 24–46° latitude north, surrounded by oceans with both warm andcold currents. Japan is also affected by various air masses and other climatic factors. Because of
the geographic location, Japan includes diverse climatic zones, which affects the biodiversity offungi. Because of the climatic diversity, vegetation varies greatly, which again affects the diversity of fungi. It is suggested that Japan embraces a great biodiversity of fungi, but large numbers offungi are still unexplored. In the present paper, I describe the current status of fungal inventory
and databasing in Japan.

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Historical Survey and Current Status of Fungal Inventory in Japan
There are two trends in the fungal inventory in Japan. One is to generate a cumulative checklist, and the other is to provide descriptions. The first trend started as early as the beginning oflast century, largely because of phytopathological interest. In 1905, The first compilation ofJapanese fungi was published by Mitsutaro Shirai (Shirai, 1905), “A List of Japanese Fungi Hitherto Known”, which included 1,200 taxa. The publication was revised in the 1917 by I. Miyake,and enlarged to include 3,500 taxa (Shirai and Miyake, 1917), followed by another revision (Shirai and Hara, 1927). The lists included the current name, literature to show the occurrence, host,substrate, and rough distribution both in Japan and the world. Hara (1954) revised and publishedthe list with some 7,300 taxa, which is the last checklist of Japanese fungi to have been published.
The second trend is to provide descriptions, represented by the massive compilation known
as the “Mycological Flora of Japan”. The project was begun by Seiya Ito before World War II,
and the first volume for Phycomycetes (mastigomycetes and zygomycetes) was published in 1936
(Ito, 1936a). The following volumes for smut fungi and rust fungi, both known as important plant
pathogenic groups, were published in 1936 and 1938 respectively (Ito, 1936b, 1938). The orderof publication seems to have been prioritized according to the plant pathological interest. The
project was interrupted by the war, and the following volumes for rust fungi (Ito, 1950), heterobasidiomycetes and polyporous fungi (Ito,1955), and agarics and gasteromycetes (Ito, 1959)
were published after the war. However, the volume for yeasts and taphrinomycetes (Ito, 1964)
was not published until just before Ito passed away. Volumes for some ascomycete groups withlarge number of fungi were left.
Following the bequest of Ito, Yoshio Otani, his son in law, started to work on the remaining
volumes after he retired from the National Science Museum in 1983. Otani published the volumes for some groups of ascomycetes (Otani, 1988, 1995) in which all the taxa were described inJapanese, with previous literature citations, and sometimes with additional photos and line drawings. Because Otani passed away in 1997, groups with large numbers of species, such as discomycetes and loculoascomycetes remained unpublished. Unfortunately, the project took placeover too long a period and was never completed. It is also noted that the project depended onvery limited personnel, although with collaboration of many other colleagues.
In accordance with the ratification and in effect of Convention of Biological Diversity(CBD), the government formulated the National Biodiversity Strategy of Japan in 1992. The goalof this Biodiversity Strategy was “to prevent species extinction, to promote conservation andrestoration of nature throughout Japan, including mountains, cities and ocean areas, and thus to
devote 50 or 100 years to building up a verdant national land area in which all citizens can enjoy
daily interaction with a wide variety of thriving life forms”. With the increasing interest in thepotential biological diversity and endangered species in Japan, the listing of all naturally occurring species was attempted. In 1995, the initial list for this purpose was prepared by the committee organized under the authorization of the Environment Agency, currently the Ministry of theEnvironment. For fungi, the list of 16,500 taxa largely relied on the work by Yoshimichi Doi, theformer curator of mycological herbarium in TNS. Unfortunately, this list contained synonyms,
which caused duplicated counts for the same taxa, and names for anamorphs of certain teleo-

History and the Current Status of Fungal Inventory and Databasing in Japan
Table 1.

53

Currently estimated fungal taxa in Japan.

Fungal Group

Taxa in Japan (a)Taxa in the World (b)a/b %Ascomycota
Basidiomycota
Chytridiomycota
Zygomycota
Anamorphic fungi

7,419
4,160
140
264
941

32,73929,914914
1,090
13,554

22.7
7.2
15.3
24.2
6.9

(a) Anonymous (2002)(b) Kirk et al. (2001)

morphs were counted independently, which again gave duplicated counts.1
In 2004, in response to a request by The Union of Japanese Societies for Systematic Biology,
the Mycological Society of Japan provided a revised count in the project “Japanese Biota Species
Number Survey”. The previous list was revised and inappropriate names were discarded as muchas possible. The result largely depended on the work by Dr. Yousuke Degawa, Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History and Dr. Ken Katumoto, Prof. Emeritus, Yamaguchi University,and is currently being edited by Dr. Katumoto for publication.
Table 1 shows the number of currently estimated fungal taxa in Japan, classified in 5 majorgroups (phyla). The total number of fungi in Japan is now 12,924. The majority belong to the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. However, the figures are considered to be still an underestimate.
An example is taken from my research for the family Hyaloscyphaceae, discomycetes, a group offungi that produce tiny, disk-like fruiting bodies or apothecia (Fig 1). Otani (1989) published alist of Japanese discomycetes which included 41 taxa of Hyaloscyphaceae to prepare a future volume of discomycetes in “Fungal flora of Japan”. Since then, based on collections throughout
Japan (Fig. 2), 29 taxa including 10 newly described species have been added to the list (Hosoya,
2002, 2004; Hosoya & Harada, 1999; Hosoya & Huhtinen, 2002; Hosoya & Otani, 1997a, 1997b;
Ono and Hosoya, 2001; Tanaka and Hosoya, 2001). As has been stated by Korf (1958), “for the
discosystematist, Japan is a relatively unexplored paradise”.
Accumulation of data from the published literature is one of the major trends in Japan and indispensable for inventory. However, accumulation of previously collected data is not enough forinventory, because of potentially undocumented/undescribed taxa. Collecting specimens from thefield is greatly encouraged. At the same time, data from the literature or from the field should becritically assessed for taxonomic validity and reliability. Ideally, the data should be based onvoucher specimens. Functional collaboration on these three aspects is the key to completing
Japan’s fungal inventory.
Taking Hyaloscyphaceae as an example, Otani (1989) counted 41 taxa in Japan based on theprevious literature data. However, critical examination of the literature data revealed 2 invalid
combinations and 3 doubtful taxa. In the TNS mycological herbarium there are 70 specimens distributed among 17 taxa. These specimens do not always give direct proof of each record, but can
1
Many fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually. The asexual state is sometimes recognized as an independent taxon
from the sexual state, because they are not always accompanied with sexual states, and the sexual state of the given asexual state is not always clearly connected. Therefore, the term anamorph is applied to the asexual state and often given a
name seperate from their teleomorph, the term for the sexual state. This treatment is somewhat peculiar from other organisms, but current International Code of Botanical Nomenclature guarantees the name of the anamorph in article 59.
Anamorphic fungi have in the past been classified to Deuteromycota (or Deuteromycotina), but currently they aregrouped as “anamorphic fungi”. In the present paper, term “anamorphic fungi” is applied.

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T. Hosoya

Fig. 1. Examples of Hyaloscyphaceae, discomycetes. a. Hyaloscypha sp., b. Arachnopeziza cornuta, c.
Arachnopeziza aurata, d. Lachnum sp. Scales: 1 mm.

Fig. 2.

Collection sites for discomycetes in Japan.

History and the Current Status of Fungal Inventory and Databasing in Japan

55

Fig. 3. Conservation format in TNS mycological herbarium. a. Paper pockets; b. Paper pockets fixed to a larger
sheet; c. Boxes of standardized sizes. d. Larger containers of various sizes.

be taken as partial support for fungal inventory in Japan. Databasing these specimens will contribute greatly to generating a more complete and reliable inventory.
Current Status of Databasing in TNS Mycological Herbarium
A total rearrangement of the specimens and revision of the database has been carried out in
TNS mycological herbarium for the past 1.5 years. Currently some 90,000 specimens have beenrecorded. The specimens are conserved in various containers. Reflecting the biodiversity offungi, the shape and size of the containers varies. Most of the specimens are dried, while someare conserved in formarine in various glass containers. Most of the dried specimens are conserved in a paper pocket of 1015 cm. Specimens that cannot be contained in paper pockets areconserved in cardboard boxes of various sizes (Fig. 3). Most of the specimens are stored in cardboard drawers on steel shelves. Previously, the specimens were arranged on the basis of an obsolete taxonomic system by the orders. However, the taxonomy of fungi is being drastically revised,
hence taxonomy even at the order level is still not stable (Kirk et al., 2001). The new alphabeticalarrangement within broad taxonomic groups enables specimens to be more easily found andmanaged with the help of the computer database. For particular specimens that cannot be accommodated to the paper pockets, the locality in the herbarium is indicated in the database. The higher taxonomic rank for specimen arrangement is similar to that in PDD, the mycological herbarium in Landcare Research (Table 2).
The database is constructed by Microsoft Access. At present about 30% of the registeredspecimens have been incorporated to the database. Of these, 6,512 records (3,000 species in 816
genera) of various fungi and 9,869 records (2,566 species in 96 genera) of rust fungi have been

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T. Hosoya
Table 2. Comparisons of conventional higher taxonomy and taxonomy for storage in PDD andTNS.
Conventional taxonomy

PDD

TNS

Mastigomycotina

Mastigomycetes
Phycomycetes

Zygomycotina
Ascomycotina

Zygomycotes
Ascomycetes

Ascomycetes

Aphyllophorales

Aphyllophorales
Agarics

Agarics/Gasteromycetes
Gasteromycetes
Basidiomycotina
Rusts
Rusts/Smuts
Smuts
Heterobasidiomycetes
Deuteromycotina

anamorphic fungi

Conventional taxonomy based on Ainsworth (1973).

made publilcally available. The former dataset has been provided to GBIF (Global Biodiversity
Information Facility) project (described below) and disclosed in the database package “Databaseof Fungal Specimens Maintained at the Selected Japanese Herbaria under the GBIF Japan Project” whereas the latter in “A list of the specimens of the Uredinales kept in TNS”. Both databases are available on the web (http://research.kahaku.go.jp/db/english/). Database structure is continuously being revised and improved based on my experiences and advises from colleagues including those at Landcare Research.
With the rearrangement of the database, statistical analysis of the specimens becomes possible. Analyzing the 6,512 records of fungi available, most of them originate from Japan, followed
by New Zealand, Finland, USA, and other countries (Fig. 4). Most of the Japanese collections arecomposed of Basidiomycota, followed by Ascomycota, anamorphic fungi and a few other fungi(Fig. 5).
Strategic Collection Building
How can we increase biodiversity of the collection to support inventory? One answer is tocarry out collecting more strategically. Analyzing the data of the specimens at hand, localities
rarely visited and taxonomic groups poorly represented will become clear. Analysis of the collecting sites of the specimens provided to GBIF revealed that the south-west part of Japan is lessoften visited, with most specimens from areas close to Tokyo, influenced by the location of TNS(Fig. 6). Some prefectures have larger numbers of specimens due to the presence of particularcollections contributed to TNS.
To support and to reinforce collecting activity, help of amateurs will be indispensable. Someof the amateur societies in Japan are very enthusiastic and their knowledge and experience are

History and the Current Status of Fungal Inventory and Databasing in Japan

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

57

Origin of the disclosed specimens for GBIF project in TNS mycological herbarium.

Higher taxonomy of the Japanese specimens disclosed for GBIF project in TNS mycological herbarium.

quite significant. Also, collaboration with other mycoloigcal herbaria in Japan in exchanging
specimens and participation in joint collecting would be of great value toward increasing thenumber of specimens. If specimen data from several mycological herbaria are combined, an increasd understanding of the fungal biodiversity in Japan will occur. Such collaboration is being
carried out under the GBIF project as mentioned below.
GBIF is an international organization to make the world’s biodiversity data electronically accessible. Countries participating in GIBF donate and get an allocation for pursuing the project.
Currently, seven Japanese mycological herbaria and a culture collection (Table 3) are involved in
the project, receiving the allocation from the financial year 2002 to 2005. Herbaria with historical

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T. Hosoya

Fig. 6.
Table 3.

Numbers of specimens by prefectures.

Mycological herbaria in Japan participating in GBIF project.

Acronym

Herbaria/Culture collection

Featuring elements

JCM
KPM
KYO
TFM
TMI
TNS
TSH
YAM

Japan Collection of Microorganisms
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum
Kyoto Univ.
Inst. Forestry & Forest Products
Tottori Mycological InstituteNational Science Museum
Univ. of Tsukuba
Yamaguchi Univ.

Fungal isolates
Fungi of Kanagawa Pref., Zygomycetes
Henmi Coll. & Tsuda Coll.
Wood-rot fungi & parasitic fungi of trees
Agaricales, Aphyllophorales, & parasitic fungi on mushrooms
Collection in wide areas in Japan
Ustomycetes
Hino-Katumoto Coll. (on bamboos)

specimens in the Northern part of Japan have not yet been incorporated, and further collaboration
is desired. In the project, each herbarium provides information for the database in the particularformat. The collected data are united as a single file and delivered over the internet. Some 22,000
records have so far been accumulated.
Currently, the majority of the specimens are basidiomycetes, followed by ascomycetes andsome anamorphic fungi (Fig. 7a). The top 10 genera in the number of the specimens are: Puccinia, Coleosporium, Uromyces, Coriolus (Trametes), Melampsora, Amanita, Russula, Lactarius,
Trametes, and Tricholoma. Most of them are rust fungi, and some agarics are also included.
However, this composition does not reflect Japan’s naturally occurring biodiversity.
Analyzing taxa diversity on a phylum basis, the proportion of Basidiomycota decreases because they have many duplication for the same taxon. However, basidiomycota still are the ma-

History and the Current Status of Fungal Inventory and Databasing in Japan

59

Fig. 7. Higher taxonomy of the Japanese specimens disclosed for GBIF project in TNS mycological herbarium a.
Nos. of specimens by phyla. b. Nos. of taxa c. Nos. of taxa based on the literature data in Table 1.

Fig. 8.

Pareto analysis of the specimens by genera.

jority in the specimens (Fig. 7b). Nevertheless, based on literature data, the number of Ascomycota is about twice that of the Basidiomycota (Fig. 7c). Thus, there is a discrepancy between what
we have (specimens in the herbarium) and what we know (literature data).
Pareto analysis of the specimens, where the genera are sorted in the order of number of specimens to obtain the cumulative count, reveals that 80% of the specimens are composed of 166
genera (less than 20% of genera), indicating that current collection is biased towards a limited
number of common genera. Consequently, we should focus on collecting documented taxa forwhich we have no collections in the herbaria.
Toward The Understanding of The Fungal Biodiversity in JapanAs discussed above, both fungal inventory in Japan and the TNS mycological herbarium areat a turning point. Currently, the discrepancy between what we have and what we know is substantial. By collecting the specimens more strategically, the overlap between records and speci-

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T. Hosoya

mens will be increased. Only when the specimens conserved in the museums overwhelm the literature data, will the inventory be fully supported by specimens. To improve the situation and forcontinuous development, several issues are enumerated. 1) Continuous updating of the data is required. Reflecting enormous advances in fungal taxonomy, there have been drastic changes infungal names, especially in the higher taxonomy. To manage the system in more convenient andwell-organized manner, establishment of a common database for higher taxonomy is required. 2)
Participation of more organizations to increase taxon and locality diversity is desired. Hopefully,
the budget should be guaranteed and will be increased. Also, continuous improvement of the system for easier participation, maintenance, and to reduce confusion is required. 3) To match recent
advances, development of the system that makes DNA level analysis possible is required. 4) To
increase professional mycologists of next generation is greatly desired. Currently, there are nouniversity courses for fundamental mycology. Although mycology has been taught in plant
pathology laboratories, the majority of the plant pathology laboratories are directed towards virology, and mycology has been paid less attention. Nevertheless, fungi are one of the most popular and threatening organisms for vegetative products, and loss of education could become a hugeproblem in the future. As a national center of mycology, reinforcement of the function of the National Science Museum in mycological research is desired.
Acknowledgement
I express my sincere thanks to Dr. Peter Johnston, Landcare Research, Auckland, for his explanation about mycological database in New Zealand, and his valuable suggestion and discussion about the database structure, specimen processing, and critically reading the manuscript.
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