The Botryobasidiaceae are a

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 maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

Cantharellales The Cantharellales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order includes not only the chanterelles ( Cantharellaceae), but also some of the tooth fungi ( Hydnaceae), clavarioid fungi ( Aphelariaceae and Clavulinaceae), and cor ...

. The family contains a group of

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 ...

that form thin, web-like

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 ...

. Some species form asexual anamorphs producing

chlamydospore A chlamydospore is the thick-walled large resting spore of several kinds of fungi, including Ascomycota such as '' Candida'', Basidiomycota such as '' Panus'', and various Mortierellales species. It is the life-stage which survives in unfavourabl ...

s. All are believed to be wood-rotting or litter-rotting

saprotrophs 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 ( ...

. None is known to be of any economic importance.

Taxonomy

History

The name Botryobasidioideae was first introduced as a subfamily of the

Corticiaceae The Corticiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Corticiales. The family formerly included almost all the corticioid (patch- or crust-forming) fungi, whether they were related or not, and as such was highly artificial. In its current sense, h ...

in 1958 by Swedish

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

John Eriksson, but was not fully described and validly published until taken up by Estonian 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 Estonia ...

in 1968. Parmasto placed the genera '' Botryobasidium'' (together with the

anamorphic Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...

genus ''Oidium'') and ''

Uthatobasidium ''Rhizoctonia'' is a genus of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Species form thin, effused, corticioid basidiocarps (fruit bodies), but are most frequently found in their sterile, anamorphic state. ''Rhizoctonia'' species are saprotrophic, bu ...

'' within the subfamily, noting that they shared certain "primitive" characters linking them to the

Ceratobasidiaceae The Ceratobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. All species within the family have basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are thin and effused. They have sometimes been included within the corticioid fungi or alternatively with ...

and

Tulasnellaceae The Tulasnellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family comprises mainly effused (patch-forming) fungi formerly referred to the " jelly fungi" or heterobasidiomycetes. Species are wood- or litter-rotting saprotrophs, but ...

. In 1982 Jülich raised the subfamily to the rank of family, as the Botryobasidiaceae, and placed it in a new

, the Botryobasidiales (which also included the family Botryohypochnaceae). A standard 1995 reference work included within the Botryobasidiaceae the corticioid genera ''Botryobasidium'', '' Botryodontia'', ''Botryohypochnus'' (considered a synonym of ''Botryobasidium''), '' Candelabrochaete'', '' Suillosporium'', and '' Waitea'', based mainly on similarities in their basidiocarp micromorphology. The family was placed in the order

Stereales 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 consi ...

Current status

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 bioch ...

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 ch ...

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 usu ...

, has confirmed the Botryobasidiaceae as a separate family, but restricted to the genus ''Botryobasidium'', including its anamorphs and ''Botryohypochnus''. The family is placed alongside the Ceratobasidiaceae and Tulasnellaceae within the order Cantharellales. Genera previously included within the Botryobasidiaceae have now been placed in the

Corticiales The Corticiales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order is composed of corticioid fungi. Species within the order are generally saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters, but several are parasitic on grasses or lichens. Pl ...

(''Waitea''),

Hymenochaetales The Hymenochaetales are an order (biology), order of fungi in the class (biology), class Agaricomycetes. The order in its current sense is based on molecular phylogeny, molecular research and not on any unifying morphology (biology), morphologica ...

(''Botryodontia''), and

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 wit ...

(''Candelabrochaete''). The disposition of ''Suillosporium'' is as yet unknown.

Habitat and distribution

According to a 2008 estimate, the Botryobasidiaceae contains around 80 species worldwide. Species are assumed to be wood- and litter-rotting

and are typically found on the undersides of fallen, rotting branches in woodland leaf litter. Basidiocarps are thin and ephemeral. None is known to be of any economic importance.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1936992 Cantharellales Basidiomycota families