''Protohydnum'' 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
order Auriculariales
The Auriculariales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. Species within the order were formerly referred to the " heterobasidiomycetes" or "jelly fungi", since many have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on s ...
. ''Protohydnum cartilagineum'', the
type and only
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, occurs in Central and South America and produces effused, cartilaginous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) on wood, yellow-ochre and wholly covered in small spines.
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 ...
, has shown that the genus is distinct, but that other species previously referred to ''Protohydnum'' belong in the genera ''
Hyalodon'' or ''
Elmerina''.
References
Auriculariales
Basidiomycota genera
Taxa described in 1895
Fungi of South America
{{Agaricomycotina-stub