This is the first report demonstrating Amorphotheca resinae to be a natural member of the soil mycobiota in Germany. The fungus was detected at 19 out of 68 collection sites and was most frequently isolated from soil under or in the vicinity of yew trees (Taxus baccata). This finding is in contrast to reports from other countries, where no correlation was found between the presence of the fungus and the kind of soil or vegetation. A. resinae could not be re-isolated by standard methods like the soil dilution technique or the soil plate method, unless the fungus was present in high numbers of colony forming units. By a modification of the creosoted matchstick method it was possible to detect the fungus when as few as 11 viable spores were present in a plate with 20 g of soil.