Phlebopus tropicus has been shown to form a crust of mycelium around the roots of species of Citrus in Brazil covering colonies of the comstock mealybug Pseudococcus comstocki which attack the roots of these plants after they have been carried there by ants (Solenopsis saevissima var. moelleri); these mycelial crusts are called criptas by Brazilian writers.
Of the nine genera assigned to the Sclerodermatineae, three are hymenomycetes (Boletinellus, Gyroporus, and Phlebopus), and six are gasteroid (Astraeus, Calostoma, Diplocystis, Pisolithus, and Scleroderma).