Fungalpedia – Note 3308, Agaricomycetes

 

Agaricomycetes Doweld, Prosyllabus Tracheophytorum, Tentamen Systematis Plantarum Vascularium (Tracheophyta) (Moscow): LXXVIII (2001).

Citation when using this data: Wijayawardene NN et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1a.

Classification: Agaricomycotina, Basidiomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.

The morphological diversity of fruiting bodies in Agaricomycetes is unparalleled in any other clade of Fungi. In Agaricomycetes, the pileate-stipitate morphotype is dominant, along with the coralloid, polyporoid, corticioid, gasteroid, and other forms (Hibbett et al. 2014). Size variation of their fruiting bodies encompasses at least four orders of magnitudes ranging from tiny cyphelloid forms, such as Henningsomyces candidus (Pers.) Kuntze (in the order of 1 mm) (Wei et al. 2007), to giant polypores (Phellinus ellipsoideus (B.K. Cui & Y.C. Dai) B.K. Cui, Y.C. Dai & Decock), which can measure up to 1,085 cm long (Dai and Cui 2011). Sánchez-García et al. (2020) highlighted that morphological transitions, not nutritional modes, are the most important drivers of diversification across Agaricomycetes and that lineages with pileate-stipitate basidiomata have strongly increased diversification rates across all clades.

Life modes and distribution: Agaricomycetes are saprobes (e.g., Agaricaceae, Polyporaceae), and form mutualistic symbioses with a great variety of vascular plants (e.g., Amanitaceae, Boletaceae, Russulaceae) or insects (e.g., Termitomyces). Others are plant pathogens (e.g., Heterobasidion, Armillaria) (Weiß et al. 2004), human pathogens (e.g., Schizophyllum commune Fr.), fungal pathogens (e.g., Squamanita) (Liu et al. 2021), and predators on nematodes (e.g., Hohenbuehelia, Pleurotus). Although less common, some Agaricomycetes species are lichenized (e.g. Omphalina licheniformis X.L. Wei, Z.H. Cao & R.L. Zhao) (Zhang et al. 2022d). Members of the class are widespread. 

Notes: Agaricomycetes with about 30,000 species encompasses the majority of described species in Basidiomycota, including 22 orders, 128 families, and 1,434 genera (He et al. 2019). As a result of the complexity of morphological and ecological diversity, there are many difficulties in the delimitation of Agaricomycetes species. Given this, the best practice is to delimit species and publish new taxa based on as many independent lines of evidence as available, that is, by applying a so-called integrative (or polyphasic) taxonomic approach (Cao et al. 2021). The most comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of Agaricomycetes so far were a multilocus and genomic-scale data-based phylogeny of 5,284 taxa (Varga et al. 2019) and a five-locus analysis of 8,472 taxa (Sánchez-García et al. 2020). 

The vast majority of wild or cultivated edible fungi include Agaricus bisporus (J.E. Lange) Imbach, Tricholoma matsutake (S. Ito & S. Imai) Singer, and Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler, all of which are Agaricomycetes (Niego et al. 2023). Similarly, a significant proportion of medicinal mushrooms, including Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst., and Hericium erinaceus (Bull.) Pers., also belong to the Agaricomycetes (Thongbai et al. 2015; Dai et al. 2021). However, there also are many poisonous mushrooms threatening public health. The lethal species are mainly from Agaricales, such as Amanita exitialis Zhu L. Yang & T.H. Li, A. phalloides (Vaill. ex Fr.) Link, and Galerina marginata (Batsch) Kühner (He et al. 2022b). 

Type order: Agaricales Underw., Moulds, mildews, and mushrooms. A guide to the systematic study of the Fungi and Mycetozoa and their literature (New York): 97 (1899).

Type family: Agaricaceae Chevall., Fl. gén. env. Paris (Paris) 1: 121 (1826).

Type genus: Agaricus L., Sp. pl. 2: 1171 (1753).

Type species: Agaricus campestris L. [as ‘campester’], Sp. pl. 2: 1173 (1753).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Agaricomycetes.

 

 

Figure 1 – Different taxa of Basidiomycota. a Agaricomycetes (Amanita hemibapha). b Bartheletiomycetes (Bartheletia paradoxa). c Cystobasidiomycetes (Cyphobasidium), white arrow shows the fruiting bodies. d Dacrymycetes (Dacryomyces spathularia). e Exobasidiomycetes (Exobasidium ferrugineae). f Malasseziomycetes (Malassezia); g Microbotryomycetes (Microbotrium). h Physodermatomycetes (Physoderma menyanthis). i Pucciniomycetes (Puccinia). j Tremellomycetes (Tremella fusiformis). k Tritirachiomycetes (Tritirachium oryzae). l Ustilaginomycetes (Mycosystema maydis). m Wallemiomycetes (Wallemia sebi). Photo credits: Figure a: Stephen Axford, Figures B-M: iNaturalist (The photos have been used under the CC BY-NC 4.0 non-commercial use license).

  

References

Cao B, Haelewaters D, Schoutteten N, Begerow D et al. 2021 – Delimiting species in Basidiomycota: a review. Fungal Divers 109:181–237.

Dai YC, Cui BK. 2011 – Fomitiporia ellipsoidea has the largest fruiting body among the fungi. Fungal Biol 115:813–814.

Dai YC, Yang ZL, Cui BK, Wu G et al. 2021 – Diversity and systematics of the important macrofungi in Chinese forests. Mycosystema 40(4):770–805.

He MQ, Wang MQ, Chen ZH, Deng WQ et al. 2022b – Potential benefits and harms: a review of poisonous mushrooms in the world. Fungal Biol Reviews 42:56–68. 

He MQ, Zhao RL, Kevin D. Hyde KD, Begerow D et al. 2019 – Notes, outline and divergence times of Basidiomycota. Fungal Divers 99:105–367.

Hibbett DS, Bauer R, Binder M, Giachini AJ et al. 2014 – 14 Agaricomycetes. In: McLaughlin D, Spatafora J (eds) Systematics and Evolution. The Mycota vol 7A. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Liu JW, Ge ZW, Horak E, Vizzini A et al. 2021 – Squamanitaceae and three new species of Squamanita parasitic on Amanita basidiomes. IMA fungus 12:4.

Niego AGT, Lambert C, Mortimer P, Thongklang N et al. 2023 – The contribution of fungi to the global economy. Fungal Divers 121:95–137.

Sánchez-García M, Ryberg M, Khan FK, Varga T et al. 2020 – Fruiting body form, not nutritional mode, is the major driver of diversification in mushroom-forming fungi. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 117:32528–32534.

Thongbai B, Rapior S, Hyde KD, Wittstein K et al. 2015 – Hericium erinaceus, an amazing medicinal mushroom. Mycol Prog 14:1–23.

Wei YL, Yuan HS, Dai YC. 2007 – First Report of Henningsomyces (Basidiomycetes) in China. Journal of Fungal Research 5(04):187–189.

Weiß M, Bauer R, Begerow D. 2004 – Spotlights on Heterobasidiomycetes. In: Frontiers in basidiomycote mycology. (Agerer R, Piepenbring M, Blanz P, eds). IHW-Verlag, Germany: 7–48.

Zhang T, Zhu X, Vizzini A, Li B et al. 2022d – New insights into lichenization in Agaricomycetes based on an unusual new basidiolichen species of Omphalina s. str. J. Fungi 1033.

 

Entry by

Nalin N. Wijayawardene, Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, Yunnan 655011, P.R. China, Tropical Microbiology Research Foundation, 96/N/10, Meemanagoda Road, 10230 Pannipitiya, Sri Lanka, Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Technology, Rajarata University, Sri Lanka

 

Published online 29 September 2026

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