Deuteromycotina

Abstract

Deuteromycotina is an important division of fungi with around 17 000 species. However, it is a dustbin class. Into it are thrown species that have no known normal sexual stage so that they cannot be placed with confidence in other classes. Most reproduce by conidia, although a few are purely mycelial, developing no spores. The great majority of the fungi in the class are likely to be Ascomycotina in which the ascus stage has not yet been discovered or in which it has been lost in the course of evolution. A few may be conidial stages of Basidiomycotina. Theoretically when, as frequently happens, the ascus stage of a conidial fungus is discovered, it should be transferred to Ascomycotina. However, it is usually convenient to retain such a fungus in Deuteromycotina, if the asexual stage is the one usually to be found in nature.