The Irpicaceae 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 ...

of mostly

polypore Polypores, also called bracket or shelf fungi, are a morphological group of basidiomycete-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi that form large fruiting bodies called conks, which are typically woody, circular, shelf- or bracket-shaped, ...

s and

crust 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 ...

in the order

Polyporales The Polyporales are an order (biology), order of about 1,800 species of fungi in the division (mycology), division Basidiomycota. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the ge ...

Taxonomy

The family was

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

in 2003 by mycologists Viacheslav Spirin and Ivan Zmitrovich. The

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

is '' Irpex''. Later multi-gene

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses of the Polyporales supported the use of this family. In these analyses, Irpicaceae is a

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the

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 ...

; these two families, as well as the

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 ...

, form the phlebioid

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

Description

Irpicaceae has both

and

. They have a monomitic

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 o ...

l system, containing only generative hyphae that do not have

clamp connection A clamp connection is a hook-like structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is a characteristic feature of basidiomycete fungi. It is created to ensure that each cell, or segment of hypha separated by septa (cross walls), rece ...

s. Their

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual (in fungi) 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 plant ...

are thin-walled, smooth, and

translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable light scattering by particles, scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale ...

Cystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are o ...

are often absent from the

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

. More rarely, some species are dimitic and/or with cystidia and/or clamp-connections present; for example, ''Emmia'' and ''Irpex'' have cystidia, and there are clamp connections in ''Gloeoporus''. Irpicaceae fungi produce a white-rot, except for one brown-rot genus (''Leptoporus'').

Genera

*'' Byssomerulius'' Parmasto (1967) – 9 species *'' Ceriporia'' Donk (1933) – 57 species *'' Efibula'' Sheng H.Wu (1990) – 16 species *'' Emmia'' Zmitr., Spirin & Malysheva (2006) *'' Flavodon'' Ryvarden (1973) – 3 species *'' Gloeoporus'' Mont. (1842) – 32 species *''

Hydnopolyporus ''Hydnopolyporus'' is a genus of two species of fungi. The genus was circumscribed in 1962 by English mycologist Derek Reid with '' H. fimbriatus'' as the type species. Although traditionally classified in the family Meripilaceae, recent mo ...

'' D.A.Reid (1962) – 2 species *'' Leptoporus'' Quél. (1886) – 12 species *'' Meruliopsis'' Bondartsev (1959) – 2 species *'' Trametopsis'' Tomšovský (2008) – 3 species According to Justo and colleagues, several genera from various other Polyporales families contain species that should be in the Irpicaceae, and will need to be reclassified. These include: '' Candelabrochaete'' ('' C. langloisii'' and '' C. septocystidia''), ''

Ceraceomyces ''Ceraceomyces'' is a genus of fungi in the family Amylocorticiaceae Amylocorticiales is an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order was circumscribed in 2010 to contain mostly resupinate (crust-like) forms that have been referred ...

'' ('' C. eludens'', '' C. microsporus'', and '' C. serpens''), '' Ceriporia'' ('' C. lacerata''), ''

Ceriporiopsis ''Ceriporiopsis'' is a genus of fungi in the family Phanerochaetaceae. The genus is widely distributed, and, according to a 2008 estimate, contains about 25 species. ''Ceriporiopsis'' was circumscribed in 1963 by Polish mycologist Stanislaw Doma ...

'' ('' C. aneirina'' and '' C. resinascens''), '' Hapalopilus'' ('' H. ochraceolateritius''), '' Phanerochaete'' ('' P. allantospora'', '' P. angustocystidiata'', '' P. exilis'', '' P. ginnsii'', '' P. intertexta'', '' P. leptoderma'', and '' P. xerophila''), and ''

Phlebia ''Phlebia'' is a genus of mostly crust fungi in the family Meruliaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution. ''Phlebia'' species cause white rot. Taxonomy ''Phlebia'' was circumscribed by Swedish mycologist Elias Fries in his 1821 work ...

'' ('' P. albida'', '' P. albomellea'', and '' P. nitidula''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28002246 Irpicaceae Taxa described in 2003