NAME Meliolinites
AGE    AGE span:  mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Ascomycetes, Erysiphales.
FIGURE(S)
FIGURE REFERENCE
SPECIES, AUTHORITY Meliolinites Selkirk 1975, p. 70.
LOCATION
ORIG DESCRIPTION* ORIGINAL DIAGNOSIS: Fossil fungal colonies. Mycelium and spores with general characteristics of members of Meliolaceae. Mycelial setae absent. Information regarding perithecial structure and nature of perithecial appendages uncertain or lacking.
COMMENTS* Hansford (1961) recognized a number of genera in the Meliolaceae, placing all species with mycelial setae in Meliola. Species in which mycelial setae are absent were placed in different genera on the basis of perithecial wall structure and appendages. Fossil specimens with mycelial setae can thus be readily assigned to Meliola.

Fossil specimens without setae pose problems. Unless well-preserved perithecia are present, so that one can decide what type of appendage (if any) is present, they cannot be placed with any certainty in any other genus. Specimens described by Dilcher (1965) as Meliola spinksii, and all the specimens from Kiandra, lack setae and hence cannot be included in Meliola (sensu Hansford, 1961) with certainty. The lack of well-preserved fructifications in the same specimens precludes their inclusion in the other genera recognized by Hansford. A form genus, Meliolinites, has been created to contain such fossil material.
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Selkirk DR. 1975. Tertiary fossil fungi from Kiandra, New South Wales; Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, v. 100, p. 70-94.
K&J REMARKS Although Dilcher did not designate a holotype, but syntypes (all resulting from a single collection), Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) consider that the name was validly published, in accordance with ICBN Art. 8.1, which states that: "for small herbaceous plants and most non-vascular plants, the type may consist of more than one individual ... conserved permanently on one ... microscope slide, or in one equivalent preparation, e.g. a box ...." Fossil plants are not excepted from this tolerant Rule.

Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) select a lectotype from these syntypes; it is permanently preserved in the paleobotanical collections of the Peabody Natural History Museum, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
TYPE TYPE: Meliolinites spinksii (Dilcher) Selkirk 1975, p. 70.
Meliola spinksii Dilcher 1965, p. 8, pl. 3, fig. 12 [lectotype selected by Kalgutkar & Jansonius 2000].
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Meliolinites;
SERIAL NUMBER 915
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.