Bondarzewiaceae are a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of fungi in the order Russulales

Russulales

The Russulales are an order of the Agaricomycetes,...

. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 for both its genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 and the family as a whole, Bondarzewia montana, closely resembles members of Polyporales

Polyporales

The Polyporales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order includes some polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics . Species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters...

 (and was formerly placed there), but has ornamented spores like those of Lactarius

Lactarius

Lactarius is a genus of mushroom-producing fungi. The genus, collectively known commonly as milk-caps, are characterized by the fact that they exude a milky fluid if cut or damaged...

or Russula

Russula

Around 750 worldwide species of mycorrhizal mushrooms compose the genus Russula. They are typically common, fairly large, and brightly colored - making them one of the most recognizable genera among mycologists and mushroom collectors...

. This characteristic suggested the relationship between physically dissimilar species that eventually led to the restructuring of Russulales (and other taxa) using molecular phylogeny

Molecular phylogeny

Molecular phylogenetics is the analysis of hereditary molecular differences, mainly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree...

. According to the Dictionary of the Fungi (10th edition, 2008), the family contains 8 genera and 48 species.

The taxon

Taxon

|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...

 is named after Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 mycologist Apollinari Semyonovich Bondarzew.