Are there any documented cases of extinction of a species of fungus? I imagine it would be hard to detect something like this.
Edit: documented by humans when it happened and/or induced by humans.
Are there any documented cases of extinction of a species of fungus? I imagine it would be hard to detect something like this.
Edit: documented by humans when it happened and/or induced by humans.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List there are many endangered fungi, but none that are documented to have become extinct within the time frame of interest to you.
However, it seems likely that some fungi have gone extinct with their plant hosts — according to the IUCN there have been 133 documented extinctions of plant species. In particular, mycorrhizal1 (and other) associations between plants and fungi are prevalent and some of these associations appear to be specific (i.e. the fungus only associates with one plant species). For example, there are reported to be 28 species of fungi that only associate with the shrub Lantana camara.2
References:
Yes. One example is of a fungus named Prototaxites. It was originally thought to be a tree, but it was a massive, tree-like fungus.