Hyaloriaceae

Hyaloriaceae
Myxarium nucleatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Subkingdom:	Dikarya
Phylum:	Basidiomycota
Subphylum:	Agaricomycotina
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Auriculariales
Family:	Hyaloriaceae Lindau (1900)
Genera
Helicomyxa (anamorph) Hyaloria Myxarium
Synonyms
Myxariaceae Jülich (1981)

The Hyaloriaceae are a family of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Species within the family have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on septate basidia and, as such, were formerly referred to the "heterobasidiomycetes" or "jelly fungi". All appear to be saprotrophic, growing on dead wood or plant remains. Less than 10 species are currently included within the Hyaloriaceae, but the family has not been extensively researched.

Taxonomy

History

The family was established in 1900 by German mycologist Gustav Lindau to accommodate a single, neotropical species, Hyaloria pilacre. Lindau considered his new family to be close to the Tremellaceae, but distinguished by the "angiocarpous" or gasteroid development of its fruit bodies (meaning that the spore-bearing hymenia were covered until maturity, rather than exposed). The Hyaloriaceae were placed within the order Tremellales by most subsequent authors,^[1][2][3] until 1984, when American mycologist Robert Bandoni revised this group of fungi and placed the family within the Auriculariales.^[4] Wells (1994) later extended the Hyaloriaceae to include other genera with "myxarioid" basidia (septate basidia with an enucleate stalk), previously placed in the Aporpiaceae or Myxariaceae.^[5]

Current status

Initial molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has supported the placement of the Hyaloriaceae within the Auriculariales and has also supported Wells' placement of the genus Myxarium within the family, though other genera with "myxarioid" basidia are not included.^[6] The anamorphic species, Helicomyxa everhartioides, has also been shown to belong within the Hyaloriaceae.^[7]

Description

Species within the Hyaloriaceae form gelatinous fruit bodies that are pustular, lobed, or effused (Myxarium species)^[8] or resemble miniature puffballs (Hyaloria species).^[3] Microscopically, all possess "myxarioid" basidia.^[6]

Distribution and habitat

Species appear to be saprotrophic, growing on dead wood or plant remains. Their distribution is cosmopolitan.^[6]

References

1. ^ Martin GW. (1945). "The classification of the Tremellales". Mycologia 37 (5): 527–542. doi:10.2307/3754690. JSTOR 3754690. 
2. ^ Donk MA. (1966). "Check list of European hymenomycetous Heterobasidiae". Persoonia 4: 145–335. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Lowy B. (1971). Flora Neotropica 6: Tremellales. New York: Hafner. ISBN 0893272205. 
4. ^ Bandoni RJ. (1984). "The Tremellales and Auriculariales: an alternative classification". Transactions of the Mycological Society of Japan 25: 489–530. 
5. ^ Wells K. (1994). "Jelly fungi, then and now!". Mycologia 86: 18–48. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Weiss M, Oberwinkler F. (2001). "Phylogenetic relationships in Auriculariales and related groups – hypotheses derived from nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences". Mycological Research 105: 403–415. doi:10.1017/S095375620100363X. 
7. ^ Kirschner R, Chen C-J. (2004). "Helicomyxa everhartioides, a new helicosporous sporodochial hyphomycete from Taiwan with relationships to the Hyaloriaceae (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota)". Studies in Mycology 50: 337–342. 
8. ^ Hauerslev K. (1993). "The genus Myxarium (Tremellales) in Denmark". Mycotaxon 49: 235–256.