Protomerulius is a genus of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are formed on dead wood and have an effused, smooth, spiny, or poroid hymenium. The genus is cosmopolitan.

Protomerulius
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Auriculariales
Genus: Protomerulius
A.Møller (1895)
Type species
Protomerulius brasiliensis
A.Møller (1895)
Species

Protomerulius africanus
Protomerulius brachysporus
Protomerulius commotus
Protomerulius dubius
Protomerulius hebes
Protomerulius madidus
Protomerulius microsporus
Protomerulius minor
Protomerulius pertusus
Protomerulius subreflexus
Protomerulius substuppeus

Synonyms

Heterochaetella (Bourdot) Bourdot & Galzin (1928)

Taxonomy

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The genus was originally described from Brazil to accommodate a fungus that resembled a polypore but microscopically had septate basidia. The genus name was subsequently extended to include other fungi with a similar combination of features.[1]

Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has shown, however, that the type species 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. Instead, it is closely related to several effused species with a smooth or spiny hymenium, including the type species of the genus Heterochaetella.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Ryvarden L (1991). "Genera of polypores. Nomenclature and taxonomy". Synopsis Fungorum. 5: 1–363.
  2. ^ Malysheva V, Spirin V, Miettinen O, Motato-Vásquez V, Hernawati JS, Larsson KH (2018). "Revision of Protohydnum (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota)". Mycological Progress. 17 (7): 805–814. doi:10.1007/s11557-018-1393-6.1393-6 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
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