(1756) who assigned the name Cyathia, a spelling, or maybe a misspelling, that was changed to Cyathus by Swiss biologist Albrecht von Haller (1768) and accepted by Christiaan Persoon (1801). Notable advances in fungi taxonomy were made by Linnaeus’s countryman Elias Magnus Fries who added numerous species to Cyathus, erected the suborder Nidulariaceae (family Nidulariaceae; Dumortier, 1822) within the now abandoned class Gasteromycetes and circumscribed the genus Nidularia (1823). Fries and his contemporaries added eight BNF genera, all of which were dropped by the end of the nineteenth century. Te greatest strides in understanding
BNF taxonomy and biology soon followed largely in the works of French mycologist Louis Tulasne and his talented illustrator and brother Charles (1844). Tulasne erected the genus Crucibulum, divided Cyathus into two sections, accurately described and illustrated the finer structures of BNF eggs and wrote the first monograph on Nidulariaceae (Lloyd, 1906). Te twentieth century saw a
remarkable increase in the number of new BNF taxa and significant rearrangement of many species previously but erroneously ranked. American mycologists Violetta Susan White added the genus Nidula (1902) while Curtis Gates Lloyd named new
species and wrote a short summary of Nidulariaceae (1906). Later in the century, John T. Palmer separated Mycocalia from Nidularia (1961). Canadian mycologist Harold Brodie also added many news species, further divided Cyathus, clarified the mechanisms of egg dispersal and published his “magnum opus” Bird’s Nest Fungi in 1975. KEW’s Catalogue of Life currently
lists 135 accepted species of BNF worldwide. Other indices and older publications list over 300 species, a difference due to the many synonyms in BNF taxonomy or as Brodie jokingly characterized it, “rediscoveries of the same species.” Recent molecular studies support the long accepted and related five genera or clades, namely Cyathus (107 species), Crucibulum (7 species) Nidula (7 species), Nidularia (9 species), Mycocalia (5 species) (KEW, 2026). In 2022, 2 species were moved from Mycocalia and placed in the new genus Retiperidiolia. Recent studies also show that BNF form a monophyletic group but phylogenetic relationships among genera and their placement remain unclear (Kraisitudomsook et al., 2022). New BNF are being discovered in underexplored parts of cold deserts, mountain habitats, and tropical and temperate forests almost yearly. Some additional species will likely be found hidden in existing species complexes.
In his 1975 book Brodie suggested
that BNF were related to the agarics. Tat notion was supported in 1995 when molecular studies revealed BNF were related to gilled mushroom, puffballs and earthstars. As a result, Nidulariaceae was moved to the Order Agaricales where they are now placed in the suborder Agaricineae, close to Psathyrellaceae (Hyde et al., 2024). Te order Nidulariales and class Gasteromycetes are now considered obsolete and no longer used in formal fungal classification (Hibbett et al., 1997).
The Nest and Eggs Considered modified stems, BNF nests
or peridia (Fig. 1) have 1 to 3 layers of tough but flexible hyphae shaped like cups, goblets, or vases. Immature nests often resemble miniature cupcakes or drums covered in tufts of “hair.” With age, the nests increase in height while narrowing at the base to create their final vessel-like shape. At maturity, nests typically measure 5–15 mm in diameter and 4–10 mm in height. External nest walls are either bare or hairy and vary in color and shagginess depending on the species. Internal nest walls are either bare, smooth or fluted in texture, shiny or dull in luster, and buff or slate grey in color. Nest rims are bare or trimmed by minute or conspicuous bristles or marginal hairs (Fig. 3) (Brodie, 1975). All of these characteristics are important
Figure 2. Anatomy of typical bird’s nest fungi illustrating nest structure and the specific parts of the peridiole in some species. Source: Wikipedia Creative Commons.
Summer 2026 FUNGI Volume 19:2 9
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