Helotiales is an
order of the class
Leotiomycetes within the division
Ascomycota.[1] The taxonomy within Helotiales has been debated. It has expanded significantly as genomic techniques for taxonomical identification have become more commonly used. As of February 2020[update], the order is estimated to contain 30 accepted families, 519 genera, and 6266 species.[2]
Helotiales is the largest order of non-stromatic
discomycetes that usually, but not always, have brightly coloured apothecia. Many members of the family have obviously cup-shaped
ascomata with little or no stipes. They are usually found fruiting on
coarse or
large wood debris as well as on other organic matter.
Part of these discomycetes are limited to a specific
host range, this goes as far as to not just being limited to one particular plant, additionally
some species need a particular part of that plant.[3]
Description
Helotiales is distinguished by its disc or cup-shaped
apothecia.
Its
asci are only slightly thickened in contrast to other
Leotiomycetes
Most Helotiales species live as
saprobes on soil
humus, dead logs, manure and other organic matter.
The order includes most fungi that engage in
ericoid mycorrhiza, including Rhizoscyphus ericae, Meliniomyces species and Cairneyella variabilis.
^Lumbsch TH, Huhndorf SM (December 2007).
"Outline of Ascomycota – 2007". Myconet. 13. Chicago, USA: The Field Museum, Department of Botany: 1–58. Archived from
the original on 2009-03-18.
^Wang Z, Binder M, Hibbett DS (September 2005). "Life history and systematics of the aquatic discomycete Mitrula (Helotiales, Ascomycota) based on cultural, morphological, and molecular studies". American Journal of Botany. 92 (9): 1565–1574.
doi:
10.3732/ajb.92.9.1565.
PMID21646174.
^Korf RP (1990). "Discomycete systematics today: a look at some unanswered questions in a group of unitunicate ascomycetes". Mycosystema. 3: 19–27.
^Quandt CA, Haelewaters D (2021-01-01), "Phylogenetic Advances in Leotiomycetes, an Understudied Clade of Taxonomically and Ecologically Diverse Fungi", in Zaragoza Ó, Casadevall A (eds.), Encyclopedia of Mycology, Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 284–294,
doi:
10.1016/B978-0-12-819990-9.00052-4,
ISBN978-0-323-85180-0,
S2CID235849988
^Pärtel, Kadri; Baral, Hans-Otto; Tamm, Heidi; Poldmaa, Kadri (2016). "Evidence for the polyphyly of Encoelia and Encoelioideae with reconsideration of respective families in Leotiomycetes". Fungal Diversity. 82 (1): 183–219.
doi:
10.1007/s13225-016-0370-0.
S2CID256067853.