The Field Museum houses approximately 350,000 specimens of fungi, about half of which are lichens (lichenized fungi). Our database currently contains 137,000 of these as searchable records, with this number growing daily. In recent years, databasing and digitization efforts have been made possible with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) (No. 0749762 and No. 1115002) as well as Field Museum Science Collections Fund. An additional 30,000+ microfungi will become available by the end of 2018 with generous support from NSF (No. 1502735).
Our collection draws from every continent on earth, with particularly strong representation from North and Central America. We have specimens dating back as far as 1802, and we add freshly gathered fungi every year. Our 5,400 type specimens are particularly important for current researchers performing molecular DNA analyses.
Please be aware that not all nomenclature is up to date; since mycological taxonomy is advancing so rapidly, many of our specimens are still listed under older names. If you are searching for a particular species name, you may also need to search for its older synonyms.
Please contact wgaswick(at)fieldmuseum.org with questions, comments, or loan requests (loan policies and guidelines can be found here).
For copyright, data usage and citation information please refer to the Field Museum Data Norms and Considerations.