''Protomerulius'' 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 ...

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 ...

Basidiocarp 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 ...

s (fruit bodies) are formed on dead wood and have an effused, smooth, spiny, or poroid hymenium. The genus is cosmopolitan.

Taxonomy

The genus was originally described from Brazil to accommodate a fungus that resembled a

polypore Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside (see Delimitation for exceptions). They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polyp ...

but microscopically had septate

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- ...

. The genus name was subsequently extended to include other fungi with a similar combination of features. 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, however, that 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 ...

of ''Protomerulius'', ''P. brasiliensis'' (a synonym of ''P. substuppeus'') is not closely related to most other poroid species with septate basidia, some of which are now placed in the genera '' Aporpium'', '' Elmerina'', and ''

Protodaedalea ''Protodaedalea'' is a genus of fungi in the family Auriculariaceae. Species produce bracket-like basidiocarps In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the s ...

''. Instead, it is closely related to several effused species with a smooth or spiny hymenium, including the type species of the genus ''Heterochaetella''.

References

External links

Auriculariales Agaricomycetes genera {{Agaricomycotina-stub