Entolomataceae

The Entolomataceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. The family contains eight genera and 2250 species, the majority of which are in Entoloma. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are typically agaricoid (mushrooms with gills), but a minority are cyphelloid, secotioid, or gasteroid. All produce pink basidiospores that are variously angular (polyhedral), ridged, or nodulose. Species are mostly saprotrophic, though a few are parasitic on other fungi. The family occurs worldwide.

==Taxonomy== The family Entolomataceae was first introduced in 1972 by the Czech mycologists František Kotlaba and Zdeněk Pouzar to replace the earlier name Rhodophyllaceae. The latter, introduced in 1951 by Rolf Singer, is illegitimate because it is based on the illegitimate genus Rhodophyllus which includes (and is therefore a superfluous synonym of) the earlier and legitimate name Entoloma. The family is well defined by its distinctive spore morphology, formed by a unique type of spore-wall thickening called the "epicorium", and by recent DNA studies.