murteellisia

Murteellisia is a fictional genus of fungi used in teaching materials to illustrate principles of taxonomic nomenclature, classification, and species description. It does not correspond to any described taxon in real-world mycological databases, and the following content reflects a didactic example rather than an actual organism.

In the illustrative framework, Murteellisia is placed in the phylum Ascomycota, within the class Leotiomycetes, and commonly shown as belonging to the order Murteellales with the family Murteelliaceae. Different educational texts may vary the exact placement to highlight the uncertainties that can exist in early-stage taxonomy, underscoring that taxonomy is a provisional science pending further study.

Morphology within the fictional description typically includes filamentous, septate hyphae and the production of small fruiting bodies. The ascus-bearing structures are depicted as containing eight ascospores, a standard arrangement used in many teaching examples to illustrate typical ascomycete features. The emphasis is on demonstrating how morphological traits are used to distinguish genera and species in a didactic context rather than documenting a real organism.

Ecology and habitat in the fictional account describe Murteellisia as saprotrophic, commonly associated with leaf litter and decaying wood in temperate forest simulations. The imagined distribution is broad or cosmopolitan within instructional materials, designed to show potential ecological roles without asserting real-world occurrence.

Species and etymology are likewise illustrative: fictional species such as Murteellisia exemplaris and Murteellisia ficticia are used. The genus name honors a fictional figure, Dr. Murteelli, as a pedagogical homage.

See also: fictitious taxa, taxonomic pedagogy notes.