<i>Pindara:</i> a miniature <i>Helvella</i>

Morphology and nuclear ribosomal small subunit DNA sequence data suggest that the mono typic genus Pindara, is a natural member of the broadly defined genus Helvella (Ascomycota, Pezizales, Helvellaceae) and it is consequently recombined in that genus as Helvella terrestris. Phylogenetic analyses of approximately 1700 basepairs of the nuclear ribosomal small subunit DNA sequences from Pindara terrestris and 42 other ascomycetes, group Pindara with Helvella (including Wynnella) among the genera Balsamia, Barssia, and Underwoodia, all Helvellaceae. The nrDNA sequence divergence within Helvella is high, and the NS3-NS4 SSU rDNA exhibit signature sequences that characterize each of several groups within Helvellaceae. A description of newly collected specimens of Pindara from Norway is provided and illustrated by light and scanning electron micrographs.