Abstract:

Aim: Since the 21st century, taxonomists have accelerated the discovery of new fungal species. The summary and analysis of the yearly new published names of fungi can reveal the research trend and existing problems for future development of mycology.

Method: The taxonomic data of newly published fungal names were retrieved and analyzed from the three recognized fungal name repositories of Fungal Names, Index Fungorum and MycoBank.

Results: In 2021, a total of 3,734 new fungal names were published all over the world, including 288 new higher taxa (i.e., 1 new phylum, 2 new classes and subclasses, 16 new orders and suborders, 36 new families, 233 new genera and subgenera), 2,551 new species and intraspecific taxa, 782 new combinations, 113 other new names. These new names belonged to 3 kingdoms, 13 phyla, 40 classes, 159 orders, 425 families and 1,165 genera, among which ascomycetes and agaricomycetes have received more attentions. There were 2,060 scholars worldwide participated in the new name publishing this year, reaching the historically highest annual number of authors. The newly published 2533 new fungal species were discovered from 101 countries and regions in the world. East and South Asia were the hottest spots of new species discovery, while China was the country with the highest number of new species discoveries (756 species), accounting for nearly 30% of the world’s total. Besides, Chinese scholars has made the most contributions in the word. Almost 380 Chinese scholars participated in the publications of 1,124 new fungal names in 2021, contributing about 30% of the world’s total.

Conclusion: Although the number of newly published fungal names declined from last year, but it still kept the increasing trends compared to the average number of last few years. The most concerned groups by researchers and localities of new species were similar with last year. A suggestion for the future taxonomic research of fungi is to continue to expand the research groups and field survey area.

Key words: taxonomy of fungi, author of new name, research group, locality of new species, Chinese scholars