Host associations of early Cantharellus
Whereas the clampless C. elsae may shed some doubt as to whether or not some of the more ancient Cantharellus were associated with Nothofagus, remarkably few chanterelles are associated with this host tree genus. Of the three reported chanterelles that do so, both C. elsae and the New Caledonian C. garnierii appear to be host generalists (Ducousso et al. 2004), whereas the very small C. nothofagorum R. H. Petersen & Mueller is only known from the type collection in Argentina. Based on morphology, both latter chanterelles would seem to fit in subgenus Cinnabarinus or Parvocantharellus.

With the exception of the few afibulate species described by Eyssartier et al. (2009) from Malaysia (all placed by our phylogeny in clade 2=subgenus Afrocantharellus ), the sole other afibulate chanterelle from outside Africa was described from New Zealand: C. elsae (G. Stev.) Horak. This apparently rare species, collected under Nothofagus, but able to grow with Kunzea/Leptospermum (Myrtaceae), is an entirely pinkish chanterelle with widely spaced gills. It lacks clamp connections and does have predominantly 5–6 spored basidia (Eyssartier 2001), contrary to what is mentioned in the original description and the redescription of the type by McNabb (1971), both of which report 4-spored basidia. Cantharellus elsae therefore is most likely a good species of Cantharellus and should not belong in Craterellus as suggested by Petersen and Mueller (1992), a recombination motivated at the time probably precisely because of the lack of clamp connections. The fact that it was first published as a Hygrophorus is a possible indication that it is very similar to species in subgenus Afrocantharellus.