The family was formally circumscribed by English mycologist Carleton Rea in 1922, with Merulius as the type genus. He also included the genera Phlebia, Coniophora (now placed in the Coniophoraceae), and Coniophorella (now considered a synonym of Coniophora). His description of the Meruliaceae was as follows: "Hymenium spread over veins, anastomosing pores, or quite smooth; edge of veins or pores fertile."[4] Several genera formerly classified in the Meruliaceae were moved to the family Steccherinaceae based on molecular evidence.[5][6]
Description
Meruliaceae species are crust-like or polyporoid, and often have a waxy appearance when dry. Their hyphal systems are monomitic (containing only tightly arranged generative hyphae), and these hyphae have clamp connections. The spores are smooth, thin-walled, and hyaline (translucent). Cystidia are often present in the hymenium. Although rare, some species have a dimitic hyphal system (with both generative and skeletal hyphae). Meruliaceae fungi cause white rot.[1]
^Ginns, James; Lindner, Daniel L.; Baroni,Timothy J.; Ryvarden, Leif (2010). "Aurantiopileus mayanensis a new genus and species of polypore (Polyporales, Basidiomycota) from Belize with connections to existing Asian species". North American Fungi. 5: 1–10. doi:10.2509/naf2010.005.004 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
^Papp, Viktor; Dima, Bálint (2018). "New systematic position of Aurantiporus alborubescens (Meruliaceae, Basidiomycota), a threatened old-growth forest polypore". Mycological Progress. 17 (3): 319–332. Bibcode:2018MycPr..17..319P. doi:10.1007/s11557-017-1356-3. S2CID255312849.
^Chen, Jia-Jia; Cui, Bao-Kai (2014). "Phlebiporia bubalina gen. et. sp. nov. (Meruliaceae, Polyporales) from southwest China with a preliminary phylogeny based on rDNA sequences". Mycological Progress. 13 (3): 563–573. Bibcode:2014MycPr..13..563C. doi:10.1007/s11557-013-0940-4. S2CID255308107.