''Myxarium'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Hyaloriaceae
The Hyaloriaceae are a family of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Species within the family have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on septate basidia and, as such, were formerly referred to the "heterobasidiomycetes" o ...
.
Basidiocarps
In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do not ...
(fruit bodies) are gelatinous and effused or pustular. The genus is cosmopolitan. All species grow on dead wood or dead herbaceous stems.
Taxonomy
History
The genus was originally described by
Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wallroth in 1833 based on the visible white inclusions in the basidiocarps of the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
, ''
Myxarium nucleatum
''Myxarium nucleatum'' (common names crystal brain or granular jelly roll) is a jelly fungus in the family Hyaloriaceae. The sporocarps (fruit bodies) are watery white and gelatinous with small, white, mineral inclusions. It is a common, wood- ...
'', which he interpreted as
spores
[ (they are in fact crystals of calcium oxalate). The genus was synonymized with '']Exidia
''Exidia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Auriculariaceae. The species are saprotrophic, occurring in attached or recently fallen dead wood, and produce gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies). The fruit bodies are diverse, pustular, lobed, bu ...
'' by subsequent authors, until revived by Dutch mycologist M.A. Donk in 1966.basidia
A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...
with enucleate stalk cells ("myxarioid" basidia), a feature absent in ''Exidia''. Additional species were added to the genus on this basis.
Current status
Molecular research, based on cladistic
Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...
analysis of DNA sequences
A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases signified by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. By convention, sequences are us ...
, indicates that ''Myxarium'' is distinct from ''Exidia'' and forms a natural ( monophyletic) group of species related to the type.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10592904
Auriculariales
Agaricomycetes genera