NAME Palaeomycites Meschinelli 1902, p. 9.
AGE    AGE span:  mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) See REMARKS by Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) under Palaeomycites.
FIGURE(S)
FIGURE REFERENCE
SPECIES, AUTHORITY Palaeomyces Renault 1896 ex Kidston & Lang 1921, p. 866.
LOCATION
ORIG DESCRIPTION* ORIGINAL DIAGNOSIS: No generic diagnosis given in 1896; see following remarks.
COMMENTS*
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Renault B. 1896. Bassin Houiller et Permien d' Autun et d'Épinac, Flore Fossile, pt. I; Études des gîtes minéraux de la France, Paris, Fascicule 4, 578 p.
K&J REMARKS Renault (1896) proposed the generic name "Palaeomyces" and assigned two species to the genus, but did not provide a generic diagnosis. Hence, the generic name Palaeomyces was not validly published according to the ICBN. Meschinelli (1902) published the fossil genus name Palaeomycites Meschinelli 1902 [non Renault 1896], with proper generic diagnosis, which took the place of Renault's nomen nudum Palaeomyces; the two species assigned by Renault to the latter also constitute the full content of Meschinelli's Palaeomycites, and Meschinelli referred to Renault's effectively (but not validly) published descriptions and illustrations, which therefore became the type material of Palaeomycites. Meschinelli's descriptions of these species are Latin translations of the original French descriptions of Renault.

The name Palaeomyces was re-introduced by Kidston & Lang 1921 (p. 866-867) who, in lieu of a generic diagnosis, and referring to an earlier suggestion by C.A. Seward (1898, p. 222), proposed to apply it as a "useful and comprehensive designation" under which to place such fossil fungi for which there is insufficient evidence about their systematic position, but that are evidently distinct and maintain their character wherever met with in the deposit. Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) accept this (slightly paraphrased) sentence as a de facto diagnosis, by which the name Palaeomyces was validly published in 1921. Seward also referred to the prior publication of Renault (1896).

Hass et al. (1994) determined that all examples of mycoparasitism in the Rhynie chert consist of fungal interactions, with various types of fungal spores and vesicles initially described as species of Palaeomyces by Kidston & Lang (1921). They indicated that all of the fungi described from this locality consist of different chytridiomycete morphotypes, that are now included in the form class Palaeomastigiomycetes (Taylor et al., 1992) as repository for such chytrid-like fossil fungi.
TYPE none designated.
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Palaeomycites Meschinelli 1902, p. 9.;
SERIAL NUMBER 1195
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.