Atheliaceae

Atheliaceae is a family of mostly corticioid fungi placed in the order Atheliales. Both the order and the family were described by the Swiss mycologist Walter Jülich in 1981 along with three other families, Lobuliciaceae, Byssocorticiaceae, Pilodermataceae and Tylosporaceae discovered in 2020. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 20 genera and approximately 100 species. However, many genera formerly considered to belong in the Atheliaceae have since been moved to other families, including Amylocorticiaceae, Albatrellaceae, and Hygrophoraceae. Despite being a relatively small group with inconspicuous forms, Atheliaceae members show great diversity in life strategies and are widespread in distribution. Additionally, being a group strictly composed of largely corticioid fungi, they may also provide insights on the evolution of fruiting body forms in basidiomycetes.

==Taxonomy== Traditionally, the classification of basidiomycetes placed significant emphasis on readily observable features, such as the construction of the basidiocarp or the hymenophore. Initially, all members of the presently known Atheliaceae had been grouped together with the other corticioid basidiomycetes in an artificial group called Corticiaceae by Marinus Anton Donk in 1964. Following this, most currently known Atheliaceae species were once included in the broadly defined genus Athelia, which were then subsequently distributed over several genera by Walter Jülich in 1972 in his monograph of “Atheliae”. In 1981, Jülich introduced the family Atheliaceae among other new families and orders, in an attempt to classify the higher order of basidiomycetes. Since then, several members of the family have been incorporated in a number of molecular phylogenetic studies. In a 2004 phylogenetic study based on molecular and morphological characters, representatives of Atheliaceae genera Piloderma, Athelia, Tylospora, Byssocorticium, Athelopsis, and Amphinema formed a monophyletic clade. Subsequently, the order Atheliales was found to be closely related to the Agaricales and Boletales, forming the monophyletic group known as the subclass Agaricomycetidae (class Agaricomycotina) in a 2007 study.