This group of mushrooms was long known as a section (
Alliacei) within the more familiar genus
Marasmius, which means that each of the species has a synonym under
Marasmius. They are distinguished from other
Marasmius by the
hymeniform cap skin which consists of smooth cells, with
hyphae which do not show a
dextrinoid reaction. The species have a characteristic garlic smell. DNA studies showed that the group is
phylogenetically allied more to genus
Gymnopus than to
Marasmius, but the distinct structure of the cap skin is thought to justify a separation at the genus level.
Franklin Sumner Earle had already defined the genus name
Mycetinis for this group in 1909, though it had not caught on, and in 2005 Wilson & Desjardin proposed to resurrect this name and redefine it for the current taxonomy. The new phylogenetic classification also means that the group belongs to family
Omphalotaceae instead of
Marasmiaceae. A new species,
M. curraniae, was described in 2012. ==Species==