Automatic recognition of fungi species aids mycologists, citizen scientists, and nature enthusiasts in identifying species in the wild while supporting the collection of valuable biodiversity data. To be effective on a large scale, such as in popular citizen science projects, it needs to efficiently predict species with limited resources and handle many classes, some of which have just a few recorded observations. Additionally, rare species are often excluded from training, making it difficult for AI-powered tools to recognize them.

Based on our measurements, we recognized that about 20% of all verified observations (20,000) involve rare or under-recorded species, highlighting the need to accurately identify these species.