Melanoleuca herrerae should be listed as Vulnerable (VU) based on the criteria A3c because at least 75% of its subpopulations develop on Abies religiosa forests; an habitat expected to decline 87% within the next fifty years due to global warming.

Melanoleuca herrerae was described on 2013 within the Mexican Melanoleuca monograph (Sánchez-García et al, 2013). It is a medium sized gilled mushroom with a yellowish brown to dark brown pileus, ellipsoid, ornamented (warted) spores and urticoid cheilocystidia. This species resembles notably to M. exscissa, differing in phylogenetic position and geographic range.

Melanoleuca herrerae is a medium sized gilled mushroom endemic from central Mexico particularly associated to Abies religiosa forests with are severely endangered. It should be listed as Vulnerable (VU) based on the criteria A3c because at least 75% of its subpopulations develop on Abies religiosa forests; an habitat expected to decline 87% within the next fifty years due to global warming.

Hight altitude conifer Abies religiosa forests in central Mexico.
Even while the species was described recently, as all Melanoleuca materials were revised in the monograph, the known subpopulations depict accurately the distribution of the species. The four known subpopulations are located in the central part of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt. The area encompassing this habitat has an EOO around 11,000 km2.

There are four known subpopulations of this species, all of the from Mexico. Two of them are from Estado de Mexico; one on Popocatepetl volcano on the Amecameca-Tlamacas road, the second from Amanalco, Agua Bendita on Toluca-Amanalco-Valle de Bravo highway. An other one is found in Tlaxcala state, in Panotla Municipality, 1 km east from San Francisco Temezontla. The last subpopulation is in the Monarch Butterfly Natural Biosphere Preserve on Michoacán state, Angangueo Municipality. Most localities develop Abies religiosa forests, an endemic conifer from hight mountains in central Mexico. Within the Abies religiosa forests in the center of Mexico may be a ten fold (40) estimated number of subpopulations. The few existing records do not seem to be a result of under-sampling. As it is strongly associated with Abies religiosa and this tree is severely endangered by climate change, Melanoleuca herrerae population will suffer a continuous decline in the near future.

This species distributes exclusively in hight altitude temperate forests of central Mexico particularly associated to Abies religiosa forests, although occasionally can be found in Quercus and Juniperus forests.

Three of the four known subpopulations of Melanoleuca herrerae are associated with Abies religiosa forests.  Abies religiosa forests are subjected to land cover-change and illegal timber extraction. In addition, this vegetation is severely threatened by global warming; it has been estimated that by 2060, A. religiosa populations will decline by 87%  (Miranda-Aragón et al., 2012; Sáenz-Romero et al., 2016; Sáenz-Romero, Rehfeldt, Duval, & Lindig-Cisneros, 2012).
The localities in Angangeo and Amecameca are within natural preserves, however they are subjected to ilegal timber logging.

A priority action for Abies religiosa forests would be to protect this habitat and the endangered species of fungi and insects such as monarch butterfly that inhabit it. Global warming mitigation.

Look for additional subpopulations within its distribution range

Not known

Sánchez-García, M., Cifuentes-Blanco, J., & Matheny, P. B. (2013). Revisión taxonómica del género Melanoleuca en México y descripción de especies nuevas. Revista mexicana de biodiversidad, 84, S111-S127.
Melanoleuca herrerae Sánchez-García & J.Cifuentes, 2013 in GBIF Secretariat (2017). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omeiaccessed via GBIF.org on 2019-09-22.
Miranda-Aragón, L., Treviño-Garza, E. J., Jiménez-Pérez, J., Aguirre-Calderón, O. A., González-Tagle, M. A., Pompa-García, M., & Aguirre-Salado, C. A. (2012). Modeling susceptibility to deforestation of remaining ecosystems in North Central Mexico with logistic regression. Journal of Forestry Research, 23(3), 345–354. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-012-0230-z
Sáenz-Romero, C., Lindig-Cisneros, R. A., Joyce, D. G., Beaulieu, J., St. Clair, J. B., & Jaquish, B. C. (2016). Assisted migration of forest populations for adapting trees to climate change. Revista Chapingo Serie Ciencias Forestales Y Del Ambiente, 22(3), 303–323. http://doi.org/10.5154/r.rchscfa.2014.10.052
Sáenz-Romero, C., Rehfeldt, G. E., Duval, P., & Lindig-Cisneros, R. A. (2012). Abies religiosa habitat prediction in climatic change scenarios and implications for monarch butterfly conservation in Mexico. Forest Ecology and Management, 275(0), 98–106. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.03.004