The Psathyrellaceae are a family of dark-spored agarics that generally have rather soft, fragile fruiting bodies, and are characterized by black or dark brown, rarely reddish, or even pastel colored spore prints. About 50% of the species produce fruiting bodies that dissolve into ink-like ooze when the spores are mature via self digestion (autodigestion). Prior to phylogenetic research based upon DNA comparisons, most of the species that autodigested were previously classified in another family called the Coprinaceae that contained all of the inky cap mushrooms. The reclassification took place because the type species of Coprinus, Coprinus comatus, and a few other species were found to belong to another family, the Agaricaceae. The former group of old Coprinus was split between two families, and the name "Coprinaceae" became a synonym of the Agaricaceae in its 21st century phylogenetic redefinition. Note that in the 19th and early 20th centuries the family name Agaricaceae had far broader application, while in the late 20th century it had a narrower application. The family name Psathyrellaceae^[1] is based upon the subfamily name Psathyrelloideae, that had been classified in the Coprinaceae. The type genus, Psathyrella consists of species that produce fruitbodies do not liquify via autodigestion. Currently Psathyrella is a polyphyletic genus that will be further fragmented and reclassified. Lacrymaria is another genus that does not autodigest its fruitbodies. It is characterized by rough basidiospores and lamellar edges that exude beads of clear liquid when in prime condition, hence the Latin reference, 'lacrym-" to crying (tears).

Most Psathyrellaceae basidiospores have a germ pore, and the pigment in the spore walls bleaches in concentrated sulfuric acid, in contrast with another phylogenetically unrelated dark-spored genus, Panaeolus. Psathyrellaceae are saprotrophs or rarely mycoparasites on other agarics (e.g. Psathyrella epimyces). They often occur in nitrogen rich habitats such as muck soils, dung, wet soft decayed wood, lawns, garden soils. The peculiar genus Mythicomyces, so named because it combines features characterizing several traditional agaric families, has proven to be a phylogenetically basal genus to the other Psathyrellaceae^[2].

The Inky Cap genera Coprinellus, Coprinopsis and Parasola

Species in the genera Coprinellus, Coprinopsis and Parasola were until recently classified in the genus Coprinus, or in the case of a few Coprinellus species, in Pseudocoprinus. Based on molecular data, the genus Coprinus was divided, with these 3 genera removed to the family Psathyrellaceae. [1].

Coprinellus

Coprinellus is a genus first described by Petter Karsten in 1879.

Coprinopsis

Coprinopsis was split out of the genus Coprinus based on molecular data. The species Coprinopsis cinerea is a model organism for mushroom-forming basidiomycota, and its genome has been recently been sequenced completely.

See also

• List of Agaricales families

References