The Tulasnellaceae 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 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 many are also endomycorrhizal associates of

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

and some have also been thought to form ectomycorrhizal associations with trees and other plants.

Taxonomy

History

The family was described in 1897 by the Swedish botanist and mycologist Hans Oscar Juel to accommodate species of fungi producing basidiocarps (fruit bodies) having distinctive basidia with grossly swollen sterigmata. He included two

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 ...

: '' Tulasnella'' itself and the poroid genus ''Muciporus'' (the latter subsequently found to be no more than ''Tulasnella'' species growing over the surface of old polypores). In 1900, the French mycologist Narcisse Patouillard included the Tulasnellaceae within the heterobasidiomycetes or " jelly fungi" and in 1922 British mycologist Carleton Rea placed the family in its own order, the Tulasnellales, within the heterobasidiomycetes.

Current status

Molecular 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 confirmed the Tulasnellaceae as distinct, but has placed the family within the Cantharellales, close to the Ceratobasidiaceae. A standard 2008 reference work estimated that the family contains three genera and over 50 species.

Description

All but one of the species within the family form smooth, effused, corticioid basidiocarps that are distinguished microscopically by their distinctive "tulasnelloid" basidia. The monotypic genus '' Stilbotulasnella'' forms basidiocarps with similar basidia, but with an erect, "stilboid" anamorph. The latter genus has not been sequenced, but was originally described as belonging within the Tulasnellaceae.

Habitat and distribution

Basidiocarps of the Tulasnellaceae are typically found in woodland, on the underside of fallen wood or in leaf litter. They are believed to be soil fungi and many species have also been isolated from the roots of terrestrial and

epiphytic An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

orchids. They may also form ectomycorrhizal associations with trees and other plants. Their distribution is cosmopolitan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2178170 Cantharellales Basidiomycota families