The gasteroid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota . Species were formerly placed in the obsolete class Gasteromycetes Fr. (literally "stomach fungi"), or the equally obsolete order Gasteromycetales Rea , because they produce spores inside their basidiocarps (fruit bodies) rather than on an outer surface. However, the class is polyphyletic , as such species—which include puffballs , earthballs , earthstars , stinkhorns , bird's nest fungi , and false truffles —are not closely related to each other. Because they are often studied as a group, it has been convenient to retain the informal (non- taxonomic ) name of "gasteroid fungi".
22-470: Agaricomycetes Bartheletiomycetes Dacrymycetes Tremellomycetes Agaricomycotina is one of three subdivisions of the Basidiomycota (fungi bearing spores on basidia ), and represents all of the fungi which form macroscopic fruiting bodies. Agaricomycotina contains over 30,000 species, divided into three classes : Tremellomycetes , Dacrymycetes , and Agaricomycetes . Around 98% of
44-474: A class of fungi in the division Basidiomycota . The taxon is roughly identical to that defined for the Homobasidiomycetes (alternatively called holobasidiomycetes) by Hibbett & Thorn, with the inclusion of Auriculariales and Sebacinales . It includes not only mushroom -forming fungi, but also most species placed in the deprecated taxa Gasteromycetes and Homobasidiomycetes. Within
66-466: A mass of 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) and an age of 1,500 years. Agaricomycetes also have antibacterial properties. Agaricomycetes can help in research in treating bacteria. Nearly all species are terrestrial (a few are aquatic), occurring in a wide range of environments where most function as decayers, especially of wood. However, some species are pathogenic or parasitic , and yet others are symbiotic (i.e., mutualistic ), these including
88-587: A microscope) he included many species of the Ascomycota (such as truffles ) within the class. Fries contrasted the Gasteromycetes with the Hymenomycetes, where spores are produced externally on gills , pores, and other surfaces. This convenient division continued to be used for the next 150 years or so, although by the middle of the twentieth century it had become evident that Gasteromycetes
110-482: A single anomalous species of basidiomycete which grows on fallen leaves of Ginkgo biloba . Some researchers suggest that this class should be included in Agaricomycotina. This Agaricomycotina -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Agaricomycetes Agaricomycetidae Phallomycetidae incertae sedis (no subclass) The Agaricomycetes are
132-470: Is no longer recognized as a natural one—various puffball species have apparently evolved independently from agaricomycete fungi. However, most mushroom guide books still group the puffballs or gasteroid forms separate from other mushrooms because the older Friesian classification is still convenient for categorizing fruit body forms. Similarly, modern classifications divide the gasteroid order Lycoperdales between Agaricales and Phallales . All members of
154-614: The fossil record , and the class does not yet pre-date the Early Cretaceous (146–100 Ma ). The oldest Agaricomycetes fossil, dating from the lower Cretaceous (130–125 Ma) is Quatsinoporites . It is a fragment of a poroid fruit body with features that suggest it could be a member of the family Hymenochaetaceae . Based on molecular clock analysis, the Agaricomycetes are estimated to be about 290 million years old. Modern molecular phylogenetics suggest
176-438: The Agaricomycetes that have not been classified in any order or family. These include: Gasteromycetes Several gasteroid fungi—such as the stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus L.—were formally described by Carl Linnaeus in his original Species Plantarum of 1753, but the first critical treatment of the group was by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in his Synopsis methodica fungorum of 1801. Until 1981, this book
198-550: The Agaricomycetes: Amylocorticiales , Jaapiales , Stereopsidales , and Lepidostromatales . Although morphology of the mushroom or fruit body (basidiocarp) was the basis of early classification of the Agaricomycetes, this is no longer the case. As an example, the distinction between the Gasteromycetes (including puffballs ) and Agaricomycetes (most other agaric mushrooms)
220-440: The class produce basidiocarps which range in size from tiny cups a few millimeters across to a giant polypore ( Phellinus ellipsoideus ) greater than several meters across and weigh up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb). The group also includes what are arguably the largest and oldest individual organisms on earth: the mycelium of one individual Armillaria gallica has been estimated to extend over 15 hectares (37 acres) with
242-488: The diversity of the gasteroid fungi; According to a 2011 estimate, gasteroid fungi comprise about 8.4% of the known Agaricomycetes . The gasteroid fungi form visibly diverse fruit bodies, but in all cases the spores are formed and reach maturity internally. They are not discharged forcibly, as in agarics and most other members of the Basidiomycota, but are released passively in a variety of different ways. In
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#1732782607076264-416: The eggs split and various strange spore-receptacles emerge. The spores are coated with a putrid smelling slime that attracts flies—these being the agents of dispersal. The bird's nest fungi, which include the genera Cyathus and Crucibulum , form miniature, egg-like packets of spores within cup-shaped fruit bodies. These packets of spores are ejected by rain-splash and may land some distance away,
286-458: The following relationships: other basidiomycetes ( outgroup ) Cantharellales Sebacinales Auriculariales Stereopsidales Geastrales Hysterangiales Gomphales Phallales Trechisporales Hymenochaetales Thelephorales Polyporales Corticiales Jaapiales Gloeophyllales Russulales Agaricales Boletales Amylocorticiales Lepidostromatales Atheliales There are many genera in
308-433: The fruit body surface. The same ingenious mechanism has evolved separately in the earthstars ( Geastrum species), which have a hard outer layer to the fruitbody that splits open in a star-like manner to reveal the puffball-like spore sack. The stinkhorns and their allies, including the genera Phallus , Mutinus , Clathrus , and Lysurus , form spores within internally gelatinous, puffball-like 'eggs'. At maturity
330-408: The genus Leratiomyces are shaped and coloured like berries and their spores may be dispersed by ground-dwelling birds. Most gasteroid fungi are saprotrophic , living on dead plant material, including very rotten, fallen wood. The earthballs ( Scleroderma species), dyeballs ( Pisolithus species), and many false truffles are ectomycorrhizal , forming a mutually beneficial relationship with
352-1021: The important ectomycorrhizal symbionts of forest trees. General discussions on the forms and life cycles of these fungi are developed in the article on mushrooms , in the treatments of the various orders (links in table at right), and in individual species accounts. A study of 5,284 species with a backbone phylogeny based on 104 genomes has suggested the following dates of evolution: Agaricomycetidae ~ 185 million years ago ( 174 million years ago – 192 million years ago ) Cantharellales 184 million years ago ( 144 million years ago – 261 million years ago ) Agaricales 173 million years ago ( 160 million years ago - 182 million years ago ) Hymenochaetales 167 million years ago ( 130 million years ago – 180 million years ago ) Boletales 142 million years ago ( 133 million years ago – 153 million years ago ) The fruit bodies of Agaricomycetes are extremely rare in
374-400: The packets gradually wearing away to release the spores themselves. False truffles in such genera as Rhizopogon , Hymenogaster , and Melanogaster develop underground or at the soil surface. As with the true truffles, some of them have distinctive smells and are actively hunted out by small mammals which may consume them and spread their spores. Some New Zealand secotioid fungi in
396-411: The puffballs, which include the genera Lycoperdon , Bovista , and Calvatia , spores are formed within spherical to pestle-shaped fruit bodies and are released either by wind (as the fruit body wears away, exposing the spore mass inside) or by raindrops. In the latter case, the fruit bodies develop an ostiole (apical hole) through which spores are puffed out by the pressure of raindrops falling on
418-600: The species are in the class Agaricomycetes , including all the agarics (gilled mushrooms), bracket fungi , clavarioid fungi , corticioid fungi , and gasteroid fungi . Tremellomycetes contains many basidiomycete yeasts and some conspicuous jelly fungi . Dacrymycetes contains a further group of jelly fungi. These taxa are founded on molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences , and supersede earlier morphology -based classifications . Agaricomycotina contains nearly one third of all described species of fungi. The class Bartheletiomycetes contains
440-575: The subdivision Agaricomycotina , which already excludes the smut and rust fungi, the Agaricomycetes can be further defined by the exclusion of the classes Tremellomycetes and Dacrymycetes , which are generally considered to be jelly fungi . However, a few former "jelly fungi", such as Auricularia , are classified in the Agaricomycetes. According to a 2008 estimate, Agaricomycetes include 17 orders , 100 families , 1147 genera , and about 21000 species . Modern molecular phylogenetic analyses have been since used to help define several new orders in
462-435: Was an artificial class (bringing together a miscellany of unrelated species) and not a natural one. In a 1995 study of British species, by Pegler et al. noted that "these fungi represent an heterogeneous assemblage, a mixture of forms which are derived from various lineages.... [they] can be collectively referred to as gasteroid fungi , but they cannot be classified as a single group." DNA-based systematic research has confirmed
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#1732782607076484-567: Was the starting point for the naming of Gasteromycetes under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants . Although the starting point was subsequently put back to 1753, names of gasteroid fungi used in Persoon's book are still sanctioned and cannot be replaced by earlier names. Elias Magnus Fries introduced the name Gasteromycetes for a class of fungi in his Systema Mycologicum of 1821, although (not using
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