Fungal taxonomy!

[JennyS]

I'm trying to discover which family various fungi I've found belong to but for some species I'm getting conflicting results.
e.g Hygrocybe miniata: according to Collins Complete Guide to Mushrooms and Fungi it is a Hygrophoraceae.
However Wikispecies and Nomen.at - animals and plants shows it as Tricholomataceae.

Help please as I'm out of my depth here!

[fairplay]

I'm outa here, this is one for Chris.

Neil.

[Ditiola]

If you search for Hygrophoraceae in Wilkipedia you get the following (with references):

"The Hygrophoraceae has been recognized by the majority of modern authors (eg, Singer, 1958; Bon, 1984; Largent, 1985; Boertmann, 1996; and Young, 2005), however, Eef Arnolds (1986) and Cornelis Bas (1990) have sunk the entire group into the Tricholomataceae. Some secondary sources (eg, Kirk, 2001) continue to use Arnold's and Bas' classification provisionally given the unsettled state of fungal nomenclature in the early 2000s. (Kuo, 2003) Young (2002, 2005) notes that though Moncalvo's analysis shows Hygrophoraceae to be polyphyletic, Tricholomataceae is even more so and will probably be split, so that adding the former to the latter will compound the problem. Young (2002) also notes that combining the two families would represent a continuation of the highly outdated concept that all white-spored genera belong in one taxon."

Hope this is of some use.

Peter

[JennyS]

Thank you for the reply Peter, and I've just come across the CABI Bioscience Databases.
Will this provide me with reliable, currently most-recognised Family and Order details?

[Ditiola]

If there is a difference of opinion between taxonomists, perhaps the most recent is not always the classification accepted by everyone.

I use the BMS database ( British Fungi - checklist ) for checking taxonomy. If you search for Hygrocybe it has the following entry:

Genus, Family, Order, Subclass, Class, Phylum
Hygrocybe, Hygrophoraceae, Agaricales, Agaricomycetidae, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota

It also has a list of accepted species names (in blue type) and comprehensive list of synonyms cross reference to the currently accepted (by the BMS) name.

The checklist ( Basidiomycota Checklist-Online - Name Search Page ) does a similar job at species level but does not include families or higher classification.

p.s.
I do not want to get into a discussion on the merits of the two available databases. The other one is probably just as good, but I have not yet found the need to give it a try.

Peter

[cybershot]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Thank you for the reply Peter, and I've just come across the CABI Bioscience Databases.
Will this provide me with reliable, currently most-recognised Family and Order details?

It leads you into this:

Index Fungorum - Names Record

(and subsequently on to the Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota)

As with all taxonomical matters its difficult to know if the information supplied coincides with the most current thinking.

[mollisia]

Hello,

the Funga Nordica has adopted already the molecular based concept of MONTCALVO et al.2002 and also on the more recent by MATHENY 2006 (in Mycologia).

There the Hygrophoraceae are accepted (which isn't quite surprising) but some species and genera were included that wouldn't have been sought here probably. E.g. The former Clitocybe clavipes, now in the newly errected genus Ampulloclitocybe. Or that the genera Lichenomphalia, Haasiella and Chrysomphalina are included, but the Omphalina are in the family Typhulaceae(yes!), together with e.g. Xeromphalina und Sarcomyxa.

best regards,
Andreas