The Auriculariales are an order of

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

in the

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

Agaricomycetes. Species within the order were formerly referred to the "

heterobasidiomycetes Heterobasidiomycetes, including jelly fungi, smuts and rusts, are basidiomycetes with septate basidia. This contrasts them to homobasidiomycetes (alternatively called holobasidiomycetes), including most mushrooms and other Agaricomycetes, whic ...

" or "jelly fungi", since many have gelatinous

basidiocarps In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do not ...

(fruit bodies) that produce spores on septate

basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly-c ...

. Around 200 species are known worldwide, placed in six or more

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

, though the status of these families is currently uncertain. All species in the Auriculariales are believed to be

saprotrophic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ( ...

, most growing on dead wood. Fruit bodies of several ''

Auricularia ''Auricularia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maint ...

'' species are cultivated for food on a commercial scale, especially in China.

Taxonomy

History

The order was established in 1889 by German mycologist

Joseph Schröter Joseph Schröter (14 March 1837 – 12 December 1894) was a noted German mycologist, doctor and scientist. He wrote several books and texts, and discovered and described many species of flora and fungi. He also spent around fifteen years, from 187 ...

to accommodate species of fungi having "auricularioid"

(more or less cylindrical basidia with lateral septa), including many of the rusts and smuts. In 1922, British mycologist

Carleton Rea Carleton Rea (7 May 1861 – 26 June 1946) was an English mycologist, botanist, and naturalist. Background and education Carleton Rea was born in Worcester, the son of the City Coroner. He was educated at The King's School and Magdalen Colle ...

recognized the order as containing the families

Auriculariaceae The Auriculariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Species within the family were formerly referred to the "heterobasidiomycetes" or "jelly fungi", since many have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on ...

and Ecchynaceae, as well as the rusts ( Coleosporiaceae and

Pucciniaceae The Pucciniaceae are a family of rust fungi that cause plant diseases, mainly on cereals such as wheat. The family contains 20 genera and over 4900 species. Genera Genera in the Pucciniaceae include: * '' Chrysella'' * '' Chrysocyclus'' * '' Ch ...

) and the smuts (

Ustilaginaceae The Ustilaginaceae are a family of smut fungi in the order Ustilaginomycetes. Collectively, the family contains 17 genera and 607 species. Biotechnological relevance Ustilaginaceae naturally produce a wide range of value-added chemicals (e.g. s ...

). Many subsequent authors, however, separated out the rusts and smuts and amalgamated the remaining Auriculariales with the

Tremellales The Tremellales are an order of fungi in the class Tremellomycetes. The order contains both teleomorphic and anamorphic species, most of the latter being yeasts. All teleomorphic species in the Tremellales are parasites of other fungi, though th ...

. Jülich (1981) also separated out the rusts and smuts, but recognized the remaining Auriculariales as an independent order, placing within them the families Auriculariaceae, Cystobasidiaceae, Paraphelariaceae, Saccoblastiaceae, Ecchynaceae, Hoehnelomycetaceae, and Patouillardinaceae. A radical revision was undertaken in 1984, when American mycologist

Robert Joseph Bandoni Robert Joseph Bandoni (11 November 1926 – 5 May 2009) was a mycologist who specialized on the taxonomy and morphology of the heterobasidiomycetes (“jelly fungi”). During his 50 years as professor at the University of British Columbia, ...

used

transmission electron microscopy Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 100 nm thick or a suspension on a g ...

to investigate the

ultrastructure Ultrastructure (or ultra-structure) is the architecture of cells and biomaterials that is visible at higher magnifications than found on a standard optical light microscope. This traditionally meant the resolution and magnification range of a co ...

of the septal pore apparatus in the Auriculariales. This revealed that species of fungi with "auricularioid" basidia were not necessarily closely related and that ''

'' had more in common with ''

Exidia ''Exidia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Auriculariaceae. The species are saprotrophic, occurring in attached or recently fallen dead wood, and produce gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies). The fruit bodies are diverse, pustular, lobed, bu ...

'' and its allies (with "tremelloid" basidia), than with other auricularioid fungi. Bandoni therefore amended the Auriculariales to include the family

(with auricularioid basidia) together with the families Exidiaceae, Aporpiaceae,

Hyaloriaceae The Hyaloriaceae are a family of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Species within the family have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on septate basidia and, as such, were formerly referred to the "heterobasidiomycetes" o ...

, and

Sebacinaceae The Sebacinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Sebacinales. Species produce basidiocarps (fruit bodies} that are gelatinous or cartilaginous and variously corticioid, clavarioid, bracket-like, or jelly-like. Microscopically, all have septa ...

(with tremelloid basidia). This revision was accepted by Wells (1994) who, however, amalgamated the Aporpiaceae and Hyaloriaceae and added the families Patouillardinaceae (with diagonally septate basidia) and

Tremellodendropsidaceae The Tremellodendropsidaceae are a family of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The family currently comprises a single genus containing a small group of clavarioid fungi with partly septate basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium ...

(with partly septate basidia). Roberts (1998) subsequently added the family Oliveoniaceae (with non-septate basidia).

Current status

Molecular research, based on

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

analysis of

DNA sequences A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases signified by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. By convention, sequences are us ...

, has substantially supported Bandoni's revised circumscription of the Auriculariales, but has moved the Sebacinaceae and the Tremellodendropsidaceae to their own separate orders, the

Sebacinales The Sebacinales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. Taxa have a widespread distribution and are mostly terrestrial, many forming mycorrhizas with a wide variety of plants, including orchids Orchids are plants that belong to ...

and

Tremellodendropsidales The Tremellodendropsidales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order currently comprises a single family containing a small group of clavarioid fungi with partly septate basidia. The order was established as a result of molecu ...

. The status of the constituent families has not yet been examined, but a clade containing ''Auricularia'' and ''Exidia'' species equates to the Auriculariaceae, whilst another containing '' Hyaloria'' and ''

Myxarium ''Myxarium'' is a genus of fungi in the family (biology), family Hyaloriaceae. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are gelatinous and effused or pustular. The genus is cosmopolitan. All species grow on dead wood or dead herbaceous stems. Taxonomy Hist ...

'' species equates to the Hyaloriaceae.

Description

The majority of species within the Auriculariales produce gelatinous

(fruit bodies) on dead wood. In some these are conspicuous and may be ear-shaped, button-shaped, lobed, bracket-like, or effused. Their

hymenophores A hymenophore refers to the hymenium-bearing structure of a fungal fruiting body. Hymenophores can be smooth surfaces, lamellae, folds, tubes, or teeth. The term was coined by Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was ...

(spore-bearing surfaces) may be smooth, warted, veined, toothed (as in the genus ''

Pseudohydnum ''Pseudohydnum'' is a genus of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are typically bracket-like and gelatinous, with or without a stipe, with a hydnoid (toothed) undersurface. The genus is widely distributed in both th ...

''), or poroid (as in the genera '' Elmerina'' and '' Aporpium''). Some species, however, produce dry, leathery, or web-like fruit bodies resembling those of the

corticioid fungi The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are formed on the undersides of dead tree trunks or branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or pa ...

Distribution and habitat

All species within the Auriculariales are thought to be saprotrophs, most of them wood-rotters. They are typically found on dead attached or fallen wood, though a few (''

Guepinia ''Guepinia'' is a genus of fungus in the Auriculariales order. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species ''Guepinia helvelloides'', commonly known as the apricot jelly. The fungus produces salmon-pink, ear-shaped, gelatinous fruit bo ...

'' species) are normally found on the ground. As a group, their distribution is

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

Economic importance

Several species within the order are edible and two, ''

Auricularia heimuer ''Auricularia heimuer'', also known as heimuer () or black wood ear, is a species of fungus in the order Auriculariales. It is commercially cultivated for food in China at a value exceeding $4 billion (USD) per year. The species was previously r ...

'' and ''

Auricularia cornea ''Auricularia cornea'' (毛木耳, maomuer or cloud ear) is a species of fungus in the order Auriculariales. It is commercially cultivated for food in China. The species was previously referred to ''Auricularia polytricha'', but the latter speci ...

'', are cultivated on a commercial scale, particularly in China and southeast Asia. File:Auricularia cornea 32082.jpg, File:Exidia glandulosa.jpg, File:Exidia recisa 34873 cropped.jpg, File:Guepinia helvelloides 47030.jpg, File:Myxarium nucleatum 108643403.jpg, File:Pseudohydnum.gelatinosum2.-.lindsey.jpg,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q892462 Basidiomycota orders