The Corticiaceae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

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, however, the name Corticiaceae is restricted to a comparatively small group of corticioid

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

within the Corticiales.

Taxonomy

History

The German

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

Wilhelm Gustav Franz Herter first published the Corticiaceae in 1910 to accommodate

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of hymenomycetes that produced

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 no ...

(fruit bodies) which were effused (spread out and patch-like) and had a more or less smooth

hymenophore 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 (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an ...

(spore-bearing surface). Since this definition was vague, superficial, and covered a large range of unrelated fungi, the Corticiaceae, though widely adopted, were also widely recognized as an unnatural grouping. Indeed, in a 1964 survey of families, Donk considered the Corticiaceae to be "a nice example of how extremely artificial taxa can be". In this wide sense, the boundaries of the Corticiaceae were never clearly defined. It was sometimes separated from the

Stereaceae The Stereaceae are a family of corticioid fungi in the Russulales order. Species in the family have a widespread distribution, are lignicolous or terrestrial (in leaf litter), and typically saprobic. According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' ...

, a family in which fruitbodies had a tendency to form pilei (caps or brackets), but often these two artificial families were united. In this united sense, the Corticiaceae certainly included the genera and species treated in the standard, 8-volume reference work ''The Corticiaceae of North Europe'' (1972-1987), where it was acknowledged that the family was "not a natural taxon but an assemblage of species with similar habitat." With the addition of non-European species, this meant that the Corticiaceae eventually expanded to include over 200 genera worldwide. The name "Corticiaceae" is still occasionally used in this wide sense (''sensu lato''), but it has generally been replaced by the term "corticioid fungi".

Current status

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

research, based on

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') 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 ...

analysis of

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

, has limited the Corticiaceae in its strict sense (''sensu stricto'') to a comparatively small group of ten genera within the Corticiales.

Description

Though now based on

molecular phylogenetics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

, the Corticiaceae ''s.s.'' have certain features partly in common.

Basidiocarp 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 no ...

s, for example, are effused (corticioid) and have a tendency to be pink or orange, as in the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of '' Corticium'', ('' C. roseum''), and species in genera such as '' Erythricium'', '' Marchandiomyces'', and '' Laetisaria''. Several of the Corticiaceae also produce

sclerotia A sclerotium (; : sclerotia () is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant u ...

, bulbils, or other

anamorph In mycology, the terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota: *Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), typically a fruiting body. *Anamorph: an ase ...

ic (asexual) propagules, including species in the genera ''Corticium'', ''Laetisaria'', ''Marchandiomyces'', and '' Waitea''. Finally, many of the Corticiaceae ''s.s.'' are obligate or facultative pathogens, such as '' Erythricium aurantiacum'' and '' Marchandiomyces corallinus'' on

lichens A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

and '' Erythricium salmonicolor'', ''Laetisaria'' spp, and some ''Waitea'' spp on grasses and other plants.

Habitat and distribution

Several species in the Corticiaceae are wood-rotting saprotrophs, typically forming corticioid basidiocarps on the undersides of dead, attached branches, less commonly on fallen wood. Several are parasites of lichens, grasses, or other plants. '' Giulia tenuis'' produces a pycnidial anamorph growing on bamboo. Collectively, they have a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of the Earth, in appropriate habitats; most cosmopolitan species are known to be highly adaptable to a range of climatic and en ...

Economic importance

A number of species within the Corticiaceae are commercially important

pathogens In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ. The term ...

of crops or turf grass. '' Erythricium salmonicolor'' attacks woody commercial crops (citrus, coffee, rubber, etc.) in the tropics, causing "pink disease". '' Waitea oryzae'' and '' Waitea zeae'' cause diseases of cereal crops, including "sheath spot" of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. ''

Waitea circinata ''Waitea circinata'' is a species of fungus in the family (biology), family Corticiaceae. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are corticioid, thin, effused, and web-like, but the fungus is more frequently encountered in its similar but sterile anamorphic ...

'' causes " brown ring patch" in turf grasses. '' Laetisaria fuciformis'' is the cause of "red thread" disease in

turf grass Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British English, British and Australian English, sod is more commonly kn ...

References

{{Authority control Corticiales Basidiomycota families Lichen families Taxa described in 1910