ElmerinaTaxonomyHistoryElmerina was described by Italian mycologist Giacomo Bresadola to accommodate a distinctive polypore originally collected in the Philippines during the Challenger expedition. Bresadola named the genus in honour of Adolph Daniel [Edward Elmer], an American botanist and plant collector. English mycologist Derek Reid later discovered that the basidia of the polypore were septate, thus placing the genus among the heterobasidiomycetes, and referred all species of poroid Auriculariales to Elmerina.Current statusresearch, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has shown that Elmerina is a distinct genus, but only includes a minority of poroid Auriculariales, others being placed in the closely related genera Aporpium and Protodaedalea and the more distantly related genus Protomerulius. The densely spiny or clavarioid Elmerina sclerodontia is also included in the genus.