What is "melanoleuca"

Melanoleuca is a poorly known genus of saprotrophic mushrooms traditionally classified in the family Tricholomataceae. Most are small to medium sized, white, brown, ocher or gray with a cylindrical to subcylindrical stipe and white to pale yellowish gills. The basidiospores are ellipsoid and ornamented with amyloid warts. Melanoleuca is considered a difficult group to study due to their macroscopic similarities among species and the need of a thorough microscopic analysis to separate species. DNA studies have determined that this genus is closely related to Amanita and Pluteus and that it does not belong to the family Tricholomataceae.

Melanoleuca is derived from the Ancient Greek melano- meaning " black", and leukos meaning " white". It may refer to:

• Melanoleuca, a genus of mushrooms in the Tricholomataceae family
• a moth genus nowadays considered a junior synonym of '' Ethmia