Ruhlandiella
Ruhlandiella is a genus of fungi within the family Pezizaceae. "Ruhlandiella" species are exothecial hypogeous fungi, which are essentially truffles that lack the outer layer or peridium. "Ruhlandiella" species are widely distributed in Nothofagaceae forests in South America and near Eucalyptus or Melaleuca plants in Australia, North America, and Europe. Species. Currently, there are seven accepted species of "Ruhlandiella." Distribution. "Ruhlandiella" species have been found several continents across the globe. There are records of "Ruhlandiella" fungi from Argentina, Australia, Canary Islands, Chile, Italy, and United States (California). "Ruhlandiella patagonica" is the most common species in Patagonia, whereas "R. lophozoniae  is apparently rare. Ruhlandiella berolinensis" has been found in Europe and North America. This could be a result of the import of "Eucalyptus" plants from Australia. Taxonomy. "Ruhlandiella" was originally a monotypic genus, first described by Paul Christoph Hennings in 1903 based on a single species: "R. berolinensis." His collections were made in a Berlin botanical greenhouse which contained Eucalyptus plants from Australia. In 1989, Warcup and Talbot described a new genus: "Muciturbo" with 3 species: "M. reticulatus, M. truncatus," and "M. verrucosus," from New South Wales. However, Rubio et al. (2010) recognized the strong morphological similarities between the two  genera, and thus transferred "M. reticulatus" and "M. truncatus" to the genus "Ruhlandiella," as "Ruhlandiella reticulata" and "Ruhlandiella truncata." Not long after, another species was described from Italy as "Ruhlandiella peregrina". Note that all these previous species were described either from Australia or Europe. In 2019, researchers from the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences described two more species of "Ruhlandiella" discovered from deep Patagonian forests in South America (Chile and Argentina). These new species are "Ruhlandiella patagonica" and "Ruhlandiella lophozoniae". Additional taxa, such as "Sphaerosoma fuscescens" and "Boudiera parvispora," were also thought to be "Ruhlandiella" species . Further morphological analysis suggests that these two species do not belong to the genus "Ruhlandiella." Morphology. "Ruhlandiella" species are characterized by their exothecial ascocarp, highly ornamented ascospores, and paraphyses covered with gelatinous sheathes that greatly exceed asci in length. The color of ascocarp varies ranging from white to brownish lilac, but typically becomes black with age or when exposed. Asci of "Ruhlandiella" do not contain opercula and range from 180 to 430 µm in length. The ascospores are hyaline, globose, and range from 15 to 39 µm in diameter. The spore ornamentation is reticulate in all species except for "R.  truncata" and "R. verrucosa" which have truncate ascospores"." Systematics and evolution. The genus "Ruhlandiella" is a member the family Pezizaceae which includes many genera such as "Peziza, Tirmania," and "Amylascus". Recent phylogenetic analyses revealed that "Ruhlandiella" is composed of two biogeographically-defined clades: Australasian and South American. The Australasian clade comprises "Ruhlandiella berolinensis", "Ruhlandiella reticulata", "Ruhlandiella truncata", "Ruhlandiella peregrina", and potentially "Ruhlandiella verrucosa." The South American clade comprises "Ruhlandiella patagonica" and "Ruhlandiella lophozoniae". It was suggested that the diversification of "Ruhlandiella" could be a result of the separation of Gondwana, which occurred roughly 135 million years ago. Ecology. Not much  is known regarding the ecological roles of "Ruhlandiella" fungi. From 1990 to 2018, "Ruhlandiella" species were thought to be ectomycorrhizal fungi, associated only with "Eucalyptus, Melaleuca" or members of the family Myrtaceae. Recently, researchers have shown that "Ruhlandiella patagonica" forms ectomycorrhizal association with "Lophozonia obliqua" and "Nothofagus pumilio" (Nothofagaceae) and may help with seedling establishment of these trees. Furthermore, because the fruiting bodies of "R. patagonica" look like snail eggs, it has been hypothesized that ground feeding birds might act as long-distance dispersal agents for these truffles.