agaricomycetes

Agaricomycetes is a class of fungi within the phylum Basidiomycota. It includes most of the familiar mushroom-forming groups and a broad array of fruiting body types, such as gilled mushrooms, boletes, polypores (bracket fungi), puffballs, coral fungi, crust fungi, and some jelly fungi. The class comprises thousands of described species with a cosmopolitan distribution.

Members typically produce macroscopic basidiocarps, fruiting bodies that bear basidia on a hymenium. They display diverse morphologies, with gilled, pore-bearing, or tooth-like hymenial surfaces. Basidiospores are produced at the ends of basidia and dispersed by wind. Hyphae are generally septate, and many species exhibit clamp connections in dikaryotic hyphae; sexual development follows the basidiomycete life cycle.

Agaricomycetes occupy a wide range of ecological niches. Many are saprotrophs that decompose wood and leaf litter; others form ectomycorrhizal associations with trees; some are parasites of plants or other fungi. They contribute to nutrient cycling in forests and soils and include several economically important edible and medicinal species, such as varieties of Agaricus and Pleurotus, as well as species used for enzymes and bioremediation.

Systematics within the class are diverse, with numerous orders including Agaricales, Boletales, Russulales, Polyporales, Hymenochaetales, Thelephorales, and others. Molecular phylogenetics has reshaped relationships within Agaricomycetes, reflecting the group’s wide morphological diversity and ecological breadth. Overall, Agaricomycetes represents the most speciose and morphologically diverse class of the Basidiomycota outside of yeasts.