''Macrotyphula'' 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 n ...

clavarioid fungi The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the ''Basidiomycota'' typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are formed on the ground, on decaying vegetation, or on dead wood. They are colloquially called club fun ...

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 ...

Phyllotopsidaceae.

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 simple, narrowly club-shaped to filiform, sometimes arising from a

sclerotium A sclerotium (; (), is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favor ...

. They typically grow on dead wood or leaf litter, often in swarms.

Taxonomy

The genus was described in 1972 by American mycologist

Ronald H. Petersen Ronald H. Petersen, more commonly known as Ron Petersen, born in 1934, is a mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, the ...

for '' M. fistulosa'' which he considered morphologically distinct from species in the genus '' Clavariadelphus'' where it had previously been referred. Additional species have subsequently been referred to ''Macrotyphula''.

Molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...

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 ch ...

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 usu ...

, indicates that the genus is

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

and forms a natural group.

The genus ''Sclerotium''

''Sclerotium'' was introduced by the German mycologist and theologian Heinrich Julius Tode in 1790 to accommodate fungal

sclerotia A sclerotium (; (), is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favor ...

(propagules composed of thick-walled hyphae). Over 400 species were subsequently added to this form genus, comprising sclerotia or sclerotia-like entities from a wide range of fungi within the phyla

Ascomycota Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The de ...

and

Basidiomycota Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

. With a move towards a more natural classification of fungi, the genus ''Sclerotium'' was restricted to sclerotial

anamorph In mycology, the terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the Biological life cycle, life cycles of fungi in the Phylum, phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota: *Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), typically a Asc ...

s of ''Macrotyphula'', since the type species, ''Sclerotium complanatum'', is the anamorph of '' Macrotyphula phacorrhiza''. Other species have been transferred elsewhere. Following changes to the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

, the practice of giving different names to teleomorph and

forms of the same fungus was discontinued, meaning that ''Macrotyphula'' should become a synonym of the earlier name ''Sclerotium''. A formal proposal to conserve the genus ''Macrotyphula'' against ''Sclerotium'' is, however, in preparation.

References

Agaricales genera Taxa named by Ron Petersen {{Agaricales-stub

Taxonomy

The genus ''Sclerotium''

See also

References