Fungal species in the MykoRadar atlas

The atlas contained 2,050 species on 29 July 2026. That is the number of taxonomic pages in MykoRadar's catalogue, not a complete list of the fungi of Poland or of the world. The scope of the atlas follows from the purpose of the service, the availability of data and how far the work has progressed. It covers organisms of importance to observers as well as imported reference data, but not every microscopic lineage has its own complete page.

A species page and an observation are different things. A taxon may enter the atlas on the basis of reliable sources even though the database has no field record assigned to it yet. Conversely, a new report may require identification and only later be connected to a page. The number of catalogue entries should therefore not be presented as the number of species "found by MykoRadar".

The value also changes with taxonomy. Two pages may be merged as synonyms, a broad species split, and a name moved to another genus. A good atlas preserves the history of names and the sources of its decisions, rather than raising the counter at any cost. The number of pages is therefore a measure of product coverage, but the quality depends on descriptions, characters, sources, protection status and the link to observations.

Global comparison calls for care. 2,050 is a small fraction of more than 150,000 described species and a smaller fragment still of the estimated millions, but the atlas is not trying to reproduce a global nomenclatural register. Its success is measured by whether a user finds reliable information about organisms relevant in the Polish context. The date attached to the number turns a marketing slogan into a checkable state of the catalogue, and makes it possible to see whether growth is keeping pace with documentation.

Why a catalogue can also shrink

A direct catalogue count on 29 August 2026 returned 1,901 species rows. The preceding snapshot on 29 July showed 2,050. A catalogue count behaves differently from an observation count: it can fall when duplicates are merged, scope changes or taxonomy is corrected. The difference of 149 rows does not itself prove which operation occurred; that requires a change-log audit.

The statistic therefore does not present the decrease as a biological loss. It reports the size of a versioned atlas on a stated date. Fungi present in Poland but not yet entered into the catalogue are outside this counter.