Cymatoderma was
circumscribed by botanist
Friedrich Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn in 1842, with
Cymatoderma elegans as the
type species.
Cymatoderma dendriticum, originally described by
Christiaan Hendrik Persoon as
Thelephora dendritica in 1827, is perhaps the earliest description of any
Cymatoderma in the literature. In 1842,
Miles Joseph Berkeley transferred
Thelephora dendritica to the genus
Cladoderris. Despite Junghuhn's earlier publication, this species became more commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as
Cladoderris dendritica in its early history. This led to a number of
synonyms created and a confusing taxonomy. It did not help that the
type material of several species, located in the
Berlin herbarium, was destroyed during the
Second World War.
Marinus Anton Donk proposed to
conserve the more popular name
Cladoderris against the earlier
Cymatoderma, but this was rejected by the authorities on Fungus nomenclature. Today, the name
Cladoderris is placed in synonymy with
Cymatoderma, as well as the names
Actinostroma,
Beccariella, and
Beccaria. ==Classification==