Atheliales is an order of mostly corticioid or athelioid fungi placed under the Agaricomycetidae subclass.

It was first described by Walter Jülich[1] in 1981 along with 4 families, Lobuliciaceae, Atheliaceae, Byssocorticiaceae and Pilodermataceae.

Most species have relatively simple gross morphology and do not have a lot of diagnostic characters.

Traditionally, the classification of basidiomycetes placed significant emphasis on readily observable features, such as the construction of the basidiocarp or the hymenophore.

[1] The order Atheliales was later found to be closely related to the Agaricales and Boletales, forming the monophyletic group known as the subclass Agaricomycetidae (class Agaricomycotina) in a 2007 study.