Fungalpedia – Note 3289, Pezizomycetes
Pezizomycetes O.E. Erikss. & Winka, Myconet, 1(1): 8 (1997).
Citation when using this data: Wijayawardene NN et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.
Notes: Pezizomycetes was introduced by Eriksson and Winka (1997). This class includes only one order, Pezizales, the so-called “operculate discomycetes”, a group of cup-fungi distinguished from the other fleshy ascomycetes by Boudier (1885) based on the dehiscence mode of asci, i.e. presence of an operculum. This systematics was widely used during the 20th century, until the works of Berthet (1964), Eckblad (1968) and Korf (1972) who proposed some changes based on morphological characters and nomenclatural aspects. Main changes were introduced in the molecular era with the first phylogenetic works by Gargas and Taylor (1995), Landvik et al. (1997), Norman and Egger (1999), Hansen and Pfister (2006) and Perry et al. (2007). Kirk et al. (2008) listed 16 families, 200 genera and about 1684 species. Jaklitsch et al. (2016) also listed 16 families, but 172 genera and about 1608 species, while Ekanayaka et al. (2018) listed 21 families and 218 accepted genera. During the last years, three new families were added (Kraisitudomsook et al. 2020; Van Vooren 2021; Zeng et al. 2022). There are about 235 accepted genera based on our last count.
Beyond their roles in natural ecosystems, some Pezizomycetes have an important economic impact on the food industry, i.e. truffles culture (Oliach et al. 2021) and wild mushrooms collecting like morels (Malone et al. 2022).
For a more detailed view of Pezizomycetes, see Pfister and Healy (2021).
Type order: Pezizales J. Schröt., in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., I: 173 (1897) [as “Pezizineae”].
Type family: Pezizaceae Dumort. Analyse des familles des plantes: 72 (1829).
Type genus: Peziza Dill. ex Fr., Syst. mycol. (Lundae) 2(1): 40 (1822).
Type species: Peziza vesiculosa Bull., Hist. Champ. Fr., 1(2): 270 (1790), nom. sanct.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Pezizomycetes.
Figure 1 – Macro morphologies of taxa in Pezizomycetes. a Peziza vesiculosa. b Daleomyces brunneoviolaceus. c Cheilymenia crucipila. d Helvella monachella. e Caloscypha fulgens. f Morchella deliciosa. g Neournula pouchetii. h Ascobolus lignatilis. i Discina perlata. j Tuber melanosporum. k Scutellinia nigrohirtula. l Wilcoxina gregaria. m Genea verrucosa. n Pyronema domesticum. o Orbicula parietina. p Lamprospora leptodictya. (All photos by N. Van Vooren, except Orbicula parietina with the courtesy of M. Poulain).
References
Boudier E. 1885 – Nouvelle classification naturelle des Discomycètes charnus connus généralement sous le nom de Pézizes. Bulletin de la Société mycologique de France 1:91–120.
Eckblad FE. 1968 – The genera of the operculate Discomycetes. A re-evaluation of their taxonomy, phylogeny and nomenclature. Nytt Magasin for Botanikk 15:1–191
Eriksson OE, Winka W. 1997 – Supraordinal taxa of Ascomycota. Myconet. 1:1–16.
Korf RP. 1972 – Synoptic key to the genera of the Pezizales. Mycologia 64:937–994.
Van Vooren N. 2021 – Nomenclatural novelties in Pezizales. Ascomycete. org. 13(2):83–84.
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 25 September 2026