The genus Tubifera was revised by Leontyev et al. (2015). Based on DNA-sequence data and morphological characters a number of new species and a new subsp. in T. ferruginosa were described. The paper introduced two unusual features in myxomycetology: the use of the colour of the immature fructification as one of more characters defining a species, and the use the taxonomical level subsp., which has rarely, if ever, been used for myxomycetes.

As a consequence reports of T. ferruginosa from Denmark before 2015 must be considered as T. ferruginosa s.l. (in a broad sense). The two species keyed out below are known with certainty from Denmark, but more species are to be expected.