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Topic: Geoglossum arenarium

Hello Chris

Feedback through the NBN Gateway:

Hi there, I have recently been made aware of an error in the NBN species dictionary relating to ascomycete fungi - in particular the synonymising of Geoglossum arenarium with Geoglossum atropurpureum. These are distinct species and both of conservation interest, the latter being a UKBAP species. The problem effectively means that there will be no meaningful distribution map for either species.

My understanding from Paul Cannon is that this is likely to be the result of an error in the 1985 ascomycete checklist which has crept into the dictionary that you are using. Would it be possible to put this right?

Best wishes

Graham
NBN Technical Liaison Officer

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Re: Geoglossum arenarium

Thanks Graham - I have contacted Paul Kirk and he is going to look into why they might have been synonymised in the database and report back. It is a fairly easy thing to split them off but atropurpureum has a plethora of synonyms and we'll need to work out which might apply to arenarium ;)

Chris Raper, Manager of the UK Species Inventory, Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity,
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD.  (tel: 020 7942 5894)
also Tachinid Recording Scheme (http://tachinidae.org.uk/)