The myxomycete genus Schenella: morphological and DNA sequence evidence for synonymy with the gasteromycete genus Pyrenogaster.

The genus Schenella has proven difficult to classify since its description as a new genus in 1911. Macbride placed it with the Myxomycetes but it was unclear with which myxomycete, if any, it should be grouped. Recent identification of abundant samples of Schenella has aided a re-evaluation of its classification as a myxomycete. Morphological evidence based on light and scanning electron microscopy of recently collected specimens and on the type specimen of Macbride suggested that it might be synonymous with the gasteromycete Pyrenogaster Analysis of DNA sequences from freshly isolated samples indicates that the genus Schenella is related closely to an anciently diverged, monophyletic group of fungi that includes several gasteromycete genera, among them Geastrum, Sphaerobolus and Pseudocolus. Comparisons of the morphology and DNA sequences of authentically identified specimens of Pyrenogaster atrogleba indicate that it is synonymous with Schenella simplex. The nomenclatural implications of this discovery are discussed.