Contumyces is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of brightly colored bryophilous agaric

Agaric

An agaric is a type of fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus that is clearly differentiated from the stipe , with lamellae on the underside of the pileus. "Agaric" can also refer to a basidiomycete species characterized by an agaric-type fruiting body...

s in the Hymenochaetales

Hymenochaetales

The Hymenochaetales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order in its current sense is based on molecular research and not on any unifying morphological characteristics. According to one 2008 estimate, the Hymenochaetales contain around 600 species worldwide, mostly corticioid...

 that have an omphalinoid morphology

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

, and therefore were previously classified in Omphalina

Omphalina

Omphalina is a genus of small agarics with white, nonamyloid, basidiospores and decurrent gills. Typically the cap has a deep central depression giving the umbrella-like to funnel-shaped cap the appearance of a belly button, or a belly with a navel...

. http://mushroomobserver.org/observer/show_name/140http://perso.orange.fr/famm/Photos/Bull27/Contumyces%20vesuviana.htmlhttp://micologia.net/g3/Omphalina-vesubiana/Omphalina_vesuviana_tinohttp://micologia.net/g3/Omphalina-rosella/Omphalina_rosella_asierhttp://micologia.net/g3/Omphalina-rosella/Omphalina_rosella They inhabit mossy silty or sandy soils in the Northern Hemisphere. Phylogenetically related agarics are in the genera Rickenella

Rickenella

Rickenella is a genus of brightly colored bryophilous agarics in the Hymenochaetales that have an omphalinoid morphology. They inhabit mosses on mossy soils, peats, tree trunks and logs in temperate regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres...

, Gyroflexus

Gyroflexus

A monotypic genus with a yellowish-ivory colored omphalinoid agaric in the Hymenochaetales that grows on living Sphagnum Phylogenetically related agarics are in the genera Rickenella, Blasiphalia, Loreleia, Cantharellopsis and Contumyces, as well as the stipitate-stereoid genera Muscinupta and ...

, Loreleia

Loreleia

Loreleia is a genus of brightly colored agarics in the Hymenochaetales that have an omphalinoid morphology. They inhabit mosses and or liverworts on soil in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

, Cantharellopsis

Cantharellopsis

Cantharellopsis is a tan- to whitish-colored bryophilous monotypic genus in the Agaricales. The fruit bodies of the single species Cantharellus prescottii has a form intermediate between an Omphalina and a chanterelle because of its forked, fold-like gills. It inhabits moss on calcareous soils in...

and Blasiphalia

Blasiphalia

Blasiphalia is a monotypic genus with a honey colored omphalinoid agaric in the Hymenochaetales that grows with the liverwort genus Blasia Phylogenetically related agarics are in the genera Rickenella, Gyroflexus, Loreleia, Cantharellopsis and Contumyces, as well as the stipitate-stereoid genera...

, as well as the stipitate-stereoid genera Muscinupta

Muscinupta

Muscinupta is a fungal genus that produces small white delicate fan-shaped to cupulate fruitbodies on mosses. It is monotypic, containing the single species Muscinupta laevis...

and Cotylidia

Cotylidia

Cotylidia is a fungal genus characterized by small to moderately sized, white to palely- yet brightly-colored, stalked, fan-shaped to funnel-shaped fruitbodies with a smooth to wrinkled hymenium, tissues composed of monomitic hyphae, basidia producing smooth, nonamyloid spores, the absence of...

and clavaroid genus, Alloclavaria

Alloclavaria

Alloclavaria is a clavarioid genus in the Hymenochaetales recently segregated from Clavaria by molecular analysis. Phylogenetically related fungi are in the agaricoid genera Rickenella, Contumyces, Gyroflexus, Loreleia, Cantharellopsis and Blasiphalia, as well as the stipitate stereoid genera...

. Contumyces is most similar to Rickenella and Blasiphalia and differs by having its cystidia on the pileus

Pileus (mycology)

The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus...

, stipe

Stipe (mycology)

thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...

, and hymenium

Hymenium

The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some cells develop into sterile cells called cystidia or...

 in clusters, whereas in Rickenella and Blasiphalia the cystidia are solitary.

Etymology

Contumyces is named after the contemporary amateur Italian mycologist, Marco Contu, and is a replacement for the illegitimate generic name Jacobia, so named after Jakob Emanuel Lange

Jakob Emanuel Lange

Jakob Emanuel Lange , was a Danish mycologist who studied the systematics of gilled mushrooms.His most well-known work is Flora Agaricina Danica, a five-volume plate work on the Agaricales of Denmark....

 by Contu, but unfortunately a latter homonym of Jacobea, a genus of flowering plants.