Comments. This small, dermocyboid fungus is easily taken for a Mycena in the field, due to its bonnet-shaped pileus and thin stipe. Cortinarius mycenarum is dark red all over (cf. M. haematopus) like a few other small cortinars in New Zealand, which all produce narrower spores. Of these, Cortinarius vinicolor (E. Horak) G. Garnier in the same habitatmay be closest in habit, whereas Cortinarius cruentoides Soop grows in association with myrtaceous trees. A BLAST search reveals no close genetic relative, but available sequences indicate a position basal to several dermocyboid clades.