Ceratobasidiaceae

Ceratobasidiaceae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Cantharellales
Family:	Ceratobasidiaceae G.W. Martin
Type genus
Ceratobasidium D.P. Rogers
Genera
Ceratorhiza R.T. Moore (anamorph) Rhizoctonia DC. (anamorph) Scotomyces Jülich Thanatephorus Donk

The Ceratobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. All species within the family have basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are thin and effused. They have sometimes been included within the corticioid fungi or alternatively within the "heterobasidiomycetes". Species are saprotrophic, but some are also facultative plant pathogens or are associated with orchid mycorrhiza. Genera of economic importance include Ceratobasidium and Thanatephorus (anamorph Rhizoctonia), both of which contain plant pathogenic species causing diseases of commercial crops and turf grass.

The family was created in 1948 by American mycologist G.W. Martin to accommodate species of corticioid fungi with heterobasidiomycete features (elongated sterigmata and basidiospores that give rise to secondary spores). He restricted the Ceratobasidiaceae to the genus Ceratobasidium, though including within the genus species later placed in Thanatephorus and Oliveonia. In 1981, Jülich created the order Ceratobasidiales to accommodate the family. By 1995, the order and the family contained 18 genera, including Ceratobasidium, Heteroacanthella, Oliveonia, Scotomyces, Thanatephorus, and their various synonyms and anamorphs.