Abstract
The saprotrophic stalked puffball fungus Battarrea phalloides (Agariacaceae) is recorded for the first time in New Zealand, with a collection from Mt Victoria, Wellington. This fungus has been reported from many countries around the world but is typically uncommon in each region and is Red Listed in a number of European countries. Phylogenetic analyses of the ITS region unambiguously placed the New Zealand specimen in one of the three clades within the B. phalloides group, each of which is well‐supported but geographically widespread. Among the sample set, the New Zealand specimen was most closely related to a specimen from Spain. The origin of the New Zealand population remains uncertain.