# Nidularia
**Nidularia** Fr. 1817 is a small genus of bird's nest fungi (family [Nidulariaceae](https://www.edgepedia.org/nidulariaceae), order [Agaricales](https://www.edgepedia.org/agaricales)) that produces globose, nest-like fruiting bodies whose thin outer wall breaks apart at maturity to expose the spore-bearing peridioles (spore-packed 'egg' bodies inside the fungal nest) embedded in a gelatinous matrix. It is the type genus of the Nidulariaceae, with three species and the type species *Nidularia deformis* (Willd.)[1](https://backoffice.biblio.ugent.be/download/8646476/8646477). Like its relatives, it is a saprotrophic wood and dung decomposer, and its reproductive body is homologous to a mushroom despite looking nothing like one[2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rank and type | Genus *Nidularia* Fr. 1817, type genus of Nidulariaceae; type species *N. deformis* (Willd.); three species[1](https://backoffice.biblio.ugent.be/download/8646476/8646477) |
| Fruit body | Globose or subglobose, basically a cluster of peridioles covered by a thin peridium[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10082518/) |
| Peridium behavior | Irregularly dehisces at maturity, so peridioles are exuded and washed away by precipitation; no epiphragm (lid)[2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532) |
| Peridioles | Lack a funiculus (attachment cord); embedded in a gel matrix[2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532) |
| Dispersal distance | Peridioles travel less than 10 mm horizontally, versus up to 1 m in *Cyathus* and *Crucibulum*[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324000022) |
| Measured discharge | In *N. pulvinata*, peridioles launch at a mean 1.2 m/s to a maximum of 1.5 cm horizontally[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25986543/) |
| Phylogeny | Groups with *Nidula* in a Nidula-Nidularia clade, but each genus is polyphyletic[2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532) |
## Morphology and how it differs from its relatives
Bird's nest fungi are named for their small nest-like fruiting bodies containing lentil-shaped or egg-like peridioles[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2846124/). Three of the genera, *[Cyathus](https://www.edgepedia.org/cyathus)*, *Crucibulum*, and *Nidula*, have cone- or inverted-bell-shaped cups, while *Nidularia* and the morphologically similar genera *Mycocalia* and *Retiperidiolia* produce globose or subglobose bodies that are essentially a cluster of peridioles covered by a thin peridium[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10082518/).
Several characters separate *Nidularia* from the cupulate genera. It has no epiphragm, the lid that covers the young peridioles of *Cyathus*, *Crucibulum*, and *Nidula*; its peridium wall irregularly dehisces at maturity rather than persisting as a cup; and its peridioles lack the funicular cords of *Cyathus* and *Crucibulum*, instead sitting in a gel[2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532). *Nidularia*, *Mycocalia*, and *Retiperidiolia* are so similar that they can be told apart mainly by microscopic features of the peridium and peridioles or by molecular phylogenetics[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324000022). Harold J. Brodie, whose 1975 monograph *The Bird's Nest Fungi* remains the standard treatment of the family, recorded Palmer's distinction between *Nidularia* and *Mycocalia*: *Nidularia* has a robust, tufted, cream to cinnamon peridium containing tinted, rigid, spinose, aseptate hyphae, whereas *Mycocalia* has a thin, usually white, ephemeral peridium of hyaline, branched, septate hyphae bearing clamp connections[7](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt15jjffz).
## Spore dispersal
The fruit body of *Nidularia* works differently from the splash-cup mechanism of its relatives. In *Nidularia pulvinata*, the globose basidiomata split open at maturity to expose 100 or more peridioles within a gelatinous matrix, and each peridiole contains an estimated 7 million spores[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25986543/). High-speed video showed that falling water drops splash the peridioles horizontally out of the fruit body, along with globs of mucilage, at a mean velocity of 1.2 m/s, with a maximum horizontal travel of 1.5 cm[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25986543/). This contrasts with the faster vertical splashes that carry peridioles up to one meter from the flute-shaped fruit bodies of *Crucibulum* and *Cyathus*, whose peridioles carry funicular cords that anchor them to vegetation[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25986543/). Because *N. pulvinata* lacks cords and uses this short-range, mucilage-heavy discharge, the researchers suggested it is more likely to be dispersed by animals feeding on the forest floor[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25986543/).
Earlier work placed *Nidularia* (with *Mycocalia* and *Retiperidiolia*) at the ancestral end of the family's dispersal spectrum, with peridioles moving less than 10 mm horizontally, while *Cyathus* and *Crucibulum* were considered the derived form with dispersal up to 1 m[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324000022).
## Phylogeny and what has changed
A 2021 multi-locus study of the Nidulariaceae using ITS, LSU, *tef*, and *rpb2* resolved the family as monophyletic with Squamanitaceae, a family of ordinary stalked mushrooms, as a potential sister taxon, and found that *Nidula* and *Nidularia* form a clade together but that each genus is polyphyletic[2](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532). A 2024 phylogenomic analysis built a species tree from 1,044 single-copy genes and 17 newly generated genomes; it corroborated the sister relationship with Squamanitaceae and resolved relationships among all extant genera except *Nidula* and *Nidularia*, which still require further taxonomic study[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324000022).
The same phylogenomic study reconstructed the family's ancestor as likely possessing an evanescent, globose peridium without funiculi, the exact combination *Nidularia* retains today. The persistent cupulate peridium of the better-known genera was gained at least four times and lost once, and the funiculus was gained twice, once in *Cyathus* and once in *Crucibulum*, although alternative coding schemes produced some uncertainty in the number of peridium transitions[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324000022). In other words, the genus once treated as primitive because of its inefficient dispersal may genuinely preserve the ancestral body plan, while the familiar splash-cup genera are the evolutionary novelties.
## Namesakes
The name *Nidularia* also appears outside mycology: *Erica nidularia* G.Lodd. is an accepted species of heather in the family [Ericaceae](https://www.edgepedia.org/ericaceae)[8](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/329187-1), and ITIS lists a valid genus *Nidularia* Targioni Tozzetti, 1868 in a separate kingdom of life[9](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1254256). These are unrelated to the fungus.
## References
1. [Notes, outline and divergence times of Basidiomycota (entry for *Nidularia* Fr. 1817)](https://backoffice.biblio.ugent.be/download/8646476/8646477)
2. [Kraisitudomsook, Healy & Smith (2021). Molecular systematics and taxonomic overview of the bird's nest fungi (Nidulariaceae). Fungal Biology 125(9): 693–703.](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000532)
3. [Rearranging the Bird's Nest Fungi: molecular review of internal clades in *Cyathus* (Nidulariaceae, Basidiomycota). IMA Fungus (2023).](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10082518/)
4. [On the origin of bird's nest fungi: Phylogenomic analyses of fungi in the Nidulariaceae (Agaricales, Basidiomycota). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 193: 108010 (2024).](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790324000022)
5. [Hassett, Fischer & Money (2015). Short-range splash discharge of peridioles in *Nidularia*. Fungal Biology 119(6): 471–475.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25986543/)
6. [A new species of bird's nest fungi: characterisation of *Cyathus subglobisporus* sp. nov.](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2846124/)
7. [Brodie, H. J. (1975). The Bird's Nest Fungi. University of Toronto Press.](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt15jjffz)
8. [Erica nidularia G.Lodd., Plants of the World Online, Kew Science](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/329187-1)
9. [ITIS Report: Nidularia Targioni Tozzetti, 1868](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1254256)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Microorganisms and fungi › Fungi and mycology › Basidiomycete taxa › Agaricomycetes › Gasteroid fungi › Stinkhorns and bird's-nest fungi › Nidulariaceae (bird's-nest fungi)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license