Crucibulum Cyathus Mycocalia Nidula Nidularia The Nidulariaceae ('nidulus' - small nest) are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales.

For example, the French botanist Jean-Jacques Paulet, in his work Traité des champignons (1790–1793), proposed the erroneous notion that peridioles were ejected from the fruiting bodies by some sort of spring mechanism.

Young fruiting bodies are initially covered by a thin membrane that dehisces irregularly or by a circumscissile split, in a circular line around the circumference of the cup opening.

[2] Species in this family are cosmopolitan in distribution, and are largely saprobic, obtaining nutrition from the decomposition of wood and plant organic matter.

The life cycle of the Nidulariaceae, which contains both haploid and diploid stages, is typical of taxa in the basidiomycetes that can reproduce both asexually (via vegetative spores), or sexually (with meiosis).

Spores germinate under suitable conditions of moisture and temperature, and grow into branching filaments called hyphae, pushing out like roots into the rotting wood.

When two homokaryotic hyphae of different mating compatibility groups fuse with one another, they form a dikaryotic mycelia in a process called plasmogamy.

Prerequisites for mycelial survival and colonization in a substrate (like rotting wood) include suitable humidity and nutrient availability.

The majority of Nidulariaceae species are saprobic, so mycelial growth in rotting wood is made possible by the secretion of enzymes that break down complex polysaccharides (such as cellulose and lignin) into simple sugars that can be used as nutrients.

Fruiting body formation is influenced by external factors such as season (which affects temperature and air humidity), nutrients and light.