The Punctulariaceae are a family of fungi in the order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 Corticiales

Corticiales

The Corticiales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order is mostly composed of corticioid fungi, but also includes one anomalous agaricoid species, Marchandiomphalina foliacea. Species within the order are generally saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters, but several are...

. The family in its current sense is based on molecular research

Molecular phylogeny

Molecular phylogenetics is the analysis of hereditary molecular differences, mainly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree...

 and contains just three genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

 of corticioid fungi

Corticioid fungi

The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps that are formed on the undersides of dead attached or fallen branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or patch fungi...

.

History

The family was introduced by Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk in 1964 to accommodate Punctularia

Punctularia

Punctularia is a genus of fungi in the family Punctulariaceae. The genus contains two widely distributed species....

, a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of corticioid fungi

Corticioid fungi

The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps that are formed on the undersides of dead attached or fallen branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or patch fungi...

 whose species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 are distinguished by forming effused basidiocarps (fruit bodies) with the hymenium

Hymenium

The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some cells develop into sterile cells called cystidia or...

 (spore-bearing surface) in patches, rather than evenly distributed over the surface. Donk placed the family within the Aphyllophorales

Aphyllophorales

The Aphyllophorales is an obsolete order of fungi in the Basidiomycota. The order is entirely artificial, bringing together a miscellany of species now grouped among the clavarioid fungi, corticioid fungi, cyphelloid fungi, hydnoid fungi, and poroid fungi....

. The family was not, however, widely adopted, most mycological texts preferring to place all corticioid fungi (including Punctularia

Punctularia

Punctularia is a genus of fungi in the family Punctulariaceae. The genus contains two widely distributed species....

species) in the Corticiaceae

Corticiaceae

The Corticiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Corticiales. The family formerly included almost all the corticioid fungi, whether they were related or not, and as such was highly artificial...

.

Current status

Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has resurrected and redefined the Punctulariaceae for a small clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 of corticioid fungi distinct from the Corticiaceae

Corticiaceae

The Corticiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Corticiales. The family formerly included almost all the corticioid fungi, whether they were related or not, and as such was highly artificial...

 and Vuilleminiaceae

Vuilleminiaceae

The Vuilleminiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Corticiales. The family in its current sense is based on molecular research and contains just three genera of temperate corticioid fungi.-History:...

. At present, the family only contains a dozen or so species of the genera Dendrocorticium

Dendrocorticium

Dendrocorticium is a genus of fungi in the family Punctulariaceae. According to the Dictionary of the Fungi , the widespread genus contains seven species....

, Punctularia

Punctularia

Punctularia is a genus of fungi in the family Punctulariaceae. The genus contains two widely distributed species....

, and Punctulariopsis.

Habitat and distribution

All fungi within the family are wood-rotting saprotrophs, growing on dead attached branches of trees and shrubs. Distribution is cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan distribution

In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...

.