The Steccherinaceae are a

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

of about 200 species 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 order

Polyporales The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the genus ''Lentinus''). Many species within ...

. It includes crust-like, toothed, and poroid species that cause a

white rot A wood-decay or xylophagous fungus is any species of fungus that digests moist wood, causing it to rot. Some species of wood-decay fungi attack dead wood, such as brown rot, and some, such as ''Armillaria'' (honey fungus), are parasitic and col ...

in dead wood.

Taxonomy

The family was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

by Czech mycologist

Erast Parmasto Erast Parmasto (28 October 1928 – 24 April 2012) was a noted Estonian mycologist, bioscientist and botanist and onetime director of the Estonian Institute of Zoology and Botany. Parmasto was born in Nõmme. He became a member of the Estonian I ...

in 1968. Parmasto's original concept included species that are today classified in the

Agaricales The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms (for their distinctive gills) or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has 33 extant families, 413 genera, and over 13,000 described species, alo ...

Hymenochaetales The Hymenochaetales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order in its current sense is based on molecular research and not on any unifying morphological characteristics. According to one 2008 estimate, the Hymenochaetales con ...

, and

Russulales The Russulales are an order of the Agaricomycetes, (which include the agaric genera ''Russula'' and '' Lactarius'' and their polyporoid and corticioid relatives). According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), the order con ...

. A large-scale

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

study published in 2012 by Otto Miettinen and colleagues redefined the limits of the Steccherinaceae to include most species of the poroid and hydnoid genera '' Antrodiella'', '' Junghuhnia'', and ''

Steccherinum ''Steccherinum'' is a widely distributed genus of toothed crust fungi in the family Steccherinaceae. Taxonomy ''Steccherinum'' was circumscribed by Samuel Frederick Gray in his 1821 work ''A Natural Arrangement of British Plants''. Descripti ...

'', as well as members of 12 other hydnoid and poroid genera. These genera were traditionally classified in the families

Phanerochaetaceae The Phanerochaetaceae are a family of mostly crust fungi in the order Polyporales. Taxonomy Phanerochaetaceae was first conceived by Swedish mycologist John Eriksson in 1958 as the subfamily Phanerochaetoideae of the Corticiaceae. It was later ...

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymeniu ...

, and

Meruliaceae The Meruliaceae are a family of fungi in the order Polyporales. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 47 genera and 420 species. , Index Fungorum accepts 645 species in the family. Taxonomy The family was formally circumscribed by E ...

. They commented: "we see the need for at least 30 monophyletic, morphologically distinguishable genera. These include no fewer than 15 new genera for both polypores and hydnoid fungi, and revival of several unused genus names." In a subsequent 2016 publication coauthored with

Leif Ryvarden Leif Randulff Ryvarden (born 9 August 1935) is a Norwegian mycologist. Early life and education Leif Ryvarden was born in Bergen as a son of Einar Norberg Johansen (1900–1959) and Hjørdis Randulff (1912–1975). He finished his secondary edu ...

, Miettinen circumscribed several new genera—'' Antella'', ''

Austeria ''Austeria'' (aka ''The Inn'') is a Polish feature film directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, produced by ''Zespół Filmowy "Kadr"'' and released in 1983. ''Austeria'' takes place during the opening days of World War I, in the Austro-Hungarian prov ...

'', '' Butyrea'', '' Citripora'', and '' Trulla''. In a 2017 phylogenetic overview of the Polyporales, Alfredo Justo and colleagues have noted "The extreme morphological variation within the Steccherinaceae makes it very difficult to characterize the family by means other than phylogeny and a certain predominance of morphological characters." Walter Jülich created the family Mycorrhaphiaceae to contain the type genus '' Mycorrhaphium''. This family is now placed in

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with Steccherinaceae.

Phylogenetics

The genus '' Xanthoporus'' and the Loweomyces

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

occupy a basal position of the Steccherinaceae phylogenetic tree. The genus '' Antrodiella'' was found to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

, containing species spread throughout 10 distinct clades in the Steccherinaceae. Although it is not known with certainty what the closest relatives of the Steccherinaceae are, the genera '' Climacocystis'', '' Hypochnicium'', ''

Meripilus ''Meripilus'' is a fungal genus in the family Meripilaceae. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek words ("part" or "portion") and ("cap"). Species *'' Meripilus applanatus'' Corner (1984) – South Solomons *''Meripilus giganteus'' (Pers. ...

'', '' Podoscypha'', and '' Pouzaroporia'' consistently appear close regardless of the gene used for phylogenetic analysis. Species in the core ''Antrodiella'' clade are very close genetically, even between species with a rather different spore shape, suggesting that these

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

may be undergoing ongoing rapid

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

. In some cases, DNA evidence shows that two morphologically nearly identical ''Antrodiella'' species are more distantly related than species that have larger phenotypic differences.

Description

Most genera of the Steccherinaceae contain poroid or hydnoid fungi; ''Steccherinum'' contains both types. Steccherinaceae

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

are usually broadly cylindrical or

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

in shape.

Characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

useful for genus-level classification include fruit body colour and type, detailed

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

l structure, presence of cystidia, the strength of cyanophilic reactions of hyphae or spores, and the thickness of the spore walls. All species cause a

, and most grow on wood. Most of the species considered have a dimitic hyphal structure (containing both generative and skeletal hyphae), and most have

clamps Clamp may refer to: Tools and devices *Brick clamp, an early method of baking bricks *Clamp (tool), a device or tool used to hold objects in a fixed relative position (many types listed) ** C-clamp ** C-clamp (stagecraft) **Riser clamp, a device ...

at the primary

septa The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

Genera

2011-09-21 Frantisekia mentschulensis (Pilat) Spirin 204803

$Loweomyces fractipes 241707$ *'' Antella'' Miettinen (2016); 3 species :Type: '' Antella niemelaei'' *'' Antrodiella'' Ryvarden & I.Johans (1980); ~50 species :Type: '' Antrodiella semisupina'' *'' Atraporiella'' Ryvarden (2007); 1 species :Type: '' Atraporiella neotropica'' *''

'' Miettinen (2016); 1 species :Type: '' Austeria citrea'' *'' Butyrea'' Miettinen (2016); 2 species :Type: '' Butyrea luteoalba'' *'' Cabalodontia'' M.Piątek (2004); 5 species :Type: '' Cabalodontia queletii'' *'' Caudicicola'' Miettinen, M.Kulju & Kotir. (2017); 1 species :Type: '' Caudicicola gracilis'' *'' Chaetoporus'' P.Karst (1890); 1 species :Type: '' Chaetoporus tenuis'' *'' Citropora'' Miettinen (2016); 2 species :Type: '' Citripora bannaensis'' *'' Elaphroporia'' Z.Q. Wu & C.L. Zhao (2018); 1 species :Type: '' Elaphroporia ailaoshanensis'' *'' Etheirodon'' Banker (1902); 1 species :Type: '' Etheirodon fimbriatum'' *'' Flabellophora'' G.Cunn (1965); ~20 species :Type: '' Flabellophora superposita'' *'' Flaviporus'' Murrill (1905); 12 species :Type: '' Flaviporus rufoflavus'' *'' Frantisekia'' Spirin and Zmitr (2007); 3 species :Type: '' Frantisekia fissiliformis'' *'' Junghuhnia'' Corda (1842); 36 species :Type: '' Junghuhnia crustacea'' *'' Lamelloporus'' Ryvarden (1987); 1 species :Type: '' Lamelloporus americanus'' *'' Loweomyces'' (Kotl. & Pouzar) Julich (1982); 6 species :Type: '' Loweomyces fractipes'' *'' Metuloidea'' G.Cunn (1965); 4 species :Type: '' Metuloidea tawa'' *'' Mycorrhaphium'' Maas Geest (1962); 6 species :Type: '' Mycorrhaphium adustum'' *'' Nigroporus'' Murrill (1905); 5 species :Type: '' Nigroporus vinosus'' *''

'' Gray (1821); ~ 30 species :Type: ''

Steccherinum ochraceum ''Steccherinum ochraceum'', known as ochre spreading tooth, is a hydnoid fungus of the family Steccherinaceae. It is a plant pathogen infecting sweetgum trees. It can also be found in Nepal. It was originally described as ''Hydnum ochraceum'' by ...

'' *'' Trulla'' Miettinen & Ryvarden (2016); 5 species :Type: '' Trulla dentipora'' *'' Xanthoporus'' Audet (2010); 2 species :Type: '' Xanthoporus peckianus'' Several genera are speculated to belong to the Steccherinaceae, although they have not yet been sampled: '' Amaurohydnum'', '' Columnodontia'', '' Cystidiodendron'', '' Irpicochaete'', '' Melzerodontia'', '' Mycoleptodonoides'', and '' Odontiochaete''. The genus '' Irpex'' has historically been placed in the Steccherinaceae, but its type species, '' Irpex lacteus'', is more closely related to '' Byssomerulius'' in the

. ''Irpex'' is now placed as the type genus of family Irpicaceae.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q30471151 Steccherinaceae Taxa described in 1968