Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.

. 2011 -Physarella oblongacentered bioassays for testing the biological activity of myxomycetes. Mycosphere 2 (6), 637-644, Doi 10.5943/mycosphere/2/6/4To study the trypanocidal, antibacterial, antifungal activity and cytotoxicity of myxomycetes, a rapid assessment focused on the species Physarella oblonga was carried out. Optimum conditions for culturing were utilized to develop a protocol that was adequate for bioanalysis of chemical compounds. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS) detected the presence of stigmasterol and fatty acids in plasmodial extracts of Ph. oblonga through H1 analysis. These plasmodial extracts showed low toxicity and positive activity against epymastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. This activity was significantly higher than the activity shown by one of the controls used. Similarly, the extracts from an unidentified species of myxomycete showed strong antimicrobial and antifungal activities against isolated strains of Bacillus cereus, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani, whereas the myxomycete Physarum melleum displayed growth inhibition of the phytopathogen F. oxysporum. These results showed that with the use of an appropriate methodology, bioprospective analysis can be carried out on myxomycetes. In addition, this is apparently the first report on the antifungal and antiparasitic potential of myxomycetes.