Clustered Bracket vs Lion

Inonotus cuticularis compared with Panthera leo

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Clustered Bracket	Lion
Kingdom	Fungi (菌界)	Animalia (動物)
Phylum	Basidiomycota (担子菌門)	Chordata (脊索動物)
Class	Agaricomycetes (真正担子菌綱)	Mammalia (哺乳類)
Order	Hymenochaetales (Hymenochaetales)	Carnivora (ネコ目)
Family	Hymenochaetaceae	Felidae (Cats)
Genus	Inonotus	Panthera (Big Cats)
Species	Inonotus cuticularis	Panthera leo

Conservation Status

Clustered Bracket

VU — Vulnerable

Lion

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~23.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Clustered Bracket	Lion
Diet	—	Carnivore
Average Lifespan	—	15 years
Average Length	—	2.5 m
Average Weight	—	190.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Clustered Bracket

Habitat

Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (4 countries), and North America (United States). Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Lion

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 7 distinct biome types spanning the Afrotropic and Neotropic and Oceanian realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, and Kenya. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Clustered Bracket

Inonotus cuticularis, the clustered bracket, is a polypore fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae that grows on living and dead hardwood trees across the northern hemisphere. The fruiting bodies are bracket-shaped, overlapping in tiered clusters, with a yellowish-brown to rusty-brown upper surface that darkens with age, and a pale to golden pore surface beneath. This species causes white heart rot in its host trees, degrading the structural integrity of trunks and major branches. It commonly attacks living oaks, beeches, and other broadleaf trees, as well as occurring on dead wood. Inonotus cuticularis is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, reflecting its association with old-growth and veteran trees that are increasingly rare in managed European and North American landscapes. The decline of old-growth forest and the removal of veteran trees from managed woodlands and parklands has reduced suitable habitat for many bracket fungi. Conservation of ancient and veteran trees is therefore important for maintaining populations of this and many other wood-decay fungi with similar old-growth associations.