 The relationships and evolutionary origins of Calostoma were a matter of considerable historical debate . Based on various morphological features , 19th @-@ century mycologists viewed it as a relative of , variously , Scleroderma , Clathrus , Geastrum , or Tulostoma . The advent of molecular phylogenetics in the late 20th century confirmed that the Gasteromycetales order was polyphyletic because gasteroid fungi do not form a single clade . Efforts to use nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequencing to resolve the proper taxonomic placement of these fungi revealed that Calostoma cinnabarinum was not closely related to true puffballs , stinkhorns , most earthstars , or gasteroid agarics such as Tulostoma or Podaxis , but instead belonged within the Boletales . Further research organized a group of mostly gasteroid fungi , including Calostoma , into the newly named suborder Sclerodermatineae . This analysis confirmed that C. cinnabarinum and C. ravenelii are distinct species , and identified their closest relatives outside the genus as Gyroporus , Astraeus , and Scleroderma . A subsequent multigene ( nuc @-@ ssu , nuc @-@ lsu , 5.8S , atp6 , and mt @-@ lsu ) study redrew the Sclerodermatineae cladogram slightly , making Pisolithus the closest relatives of Calostoma . 
