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 parasitic on grasses or lichens. Those of economic importance include Waitea circinata, a pathogen of cereal crops, and Laetisaria fuciformis, the cause of red thread disease in turf grass.

Taxonomy

The order was established in 2007 by Swedish mycologist Karl-Henrik Larsson, based on molecular phylogenetic research. Though the precise boundaries of the order and its constituent families are yet to be resolved, it includes the Corticiaceae as well as the Punctulariaceae and Vuilleminiaceae.

Habitat and distribution

The order is cosmopolitan and contains around 150 species of fungi worldwide. The majority of species in the Corticiales are saprotrophs, most of them wood-rotters, typically found on dead attached branches. Species of Laetisaria, Limonomyces, and Waitea are facultative or obligate parasites of grasses; species of Marchandiobasidium and Marchandiomyces are parasites of lichens; Marchandiomphalina foliacea is itself lichenized.

Economic importance

Waitea circinata is an important pathogen of commercial cereal crops, causing a number of diseases including sheath spot of rice. The same fungus also causes brown ring patch in turf grasses. Laetisaria fuciformis is the cause of red thread disease in turf grass.