Fungalpedia – Note 3261, Pluteineae

 

Pluteineae Aime, Dentinger & Gaya, in Dentinger, Gaya, O’Brien, Suz, Lachlan, Díaz-Valderrama, Koch & Aime, Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 117(1): 27 (2015).

Citation when using this data: He MQ et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.

Classification: Agaricales, Agaricomycetidae, Agaricomycetes, Agaricomycotina, Basidiomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.

Limits and composition of Pluteaceae are currently not well-defined. Early phylogenetic work (Justo et al. 2011a, b) split Volvariella in two genera: Volvopluteus (closely related to Pluteus), and Volvariella s. s., apparently not in Pluteaceae, and of uncertain phylogenetic position in Agaricales. These phylogenies, based on ribosomal loci, suggested a close relationship of Pluteaceae with Limnoperdon, Macrocystidia, and Melanoleuca, and Amanitaceae. 

Phylogenomic data presented here (He MQ et al. 2024) do support a close relationship of Pluteaceae and Amanitaceae but offer limited insight into the composition of Pluteaceae itself. Macrocystidia is shown to belong in Tricholomatineae, and currently it is the only member of Macrocystidiaceae. In our analyses, Volvariella, represented by a single species, V. volvacea (Bull.) Singer, appears as sister to Pluteus, represented by P. cervinus (Schaeff.) P. Kumm. These results would suggest a return to a “classical” concept of the Pluteaceae, with these two genera as its only members. However, we lack full-genome data for two critical genera, viz. Volvopluteus and Melanoleuca, to understand relationships within Pluteaceae. Aditionally, the aquatic genus Limnoperdon appeared close to Pluteaceae in analyses of ribosomal loci, and it is currently classified in its own family (Limnoperdaceae) in Pluteineae. To further clarify the relationships of genera in Pluteineae, full-genome data is needed for Limnoperdon, Melanoleuca, and, Volvopluteus and ideally for additional species of Pluteus and Volvariella.

Type genus: Pluteus Fr. 1836.

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Pluteineae.

 

References

He MQ, Cao B, Liu F, Boekhout T et al. 2024 – Phylogenomics, divergence times and notes of orders in Basidiomycota. Fungal diversity, 126(1), 127-406.

Justo A, Minnis AM, Ghignone S, Menolli N et al. 2011b – Species recognition in Pluteus and Volvopluteus (Pluteaceae, Agaricales): morphology, geography and phylogeny. Mycological Progress 10:453–479.

Justo A, Vizzini A, Minnis AM, Menolli Jr N et al. 2011a – Phylogeny of the Pluteaceae (Agaricales, Basidiomycota): taxonomy and character evolution. Fungal Biology 115(1):1–20.

 

Entry by

Mao-Qiang He, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China.

 

Published online 24 September 2026.

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