The Gymnoascaceae are a small family (10 genera, 23 species; Kirk et al., 2001).
Members of the Gymnoascaceae are isolated mainly from soil and are saprotrophic, degrading keratin and also cellulose.
Gymnoascus reessii is a species commonly encountered on herbivore dung, producing strikingly colored gymnothecia which are at first yellow, then red and finally brown as the ascospores mature.
The reticulo peridium consists of branched, recurved, thick-walled hyphae loosely enclosing a mass of asci. Ascocarp development can be followed readily in culture and begins from paired gametangia which arise from the same or different hyphae.