(Fungi Imperfecti) An artificial subdivision of the * Eumycota containing all those fungi in which the sexual stage has either not been found or appears to have been replaced by other mechanisms, e.g. by * parasexual recombination. It contains over 15 000 species in some 1825 genera. Most of the imperfect fungi show affinities with the ascomycetes. Fungi in which the sexual (perfect) stage is found may be given a different generic name from closely related species only showing the imperfect stage, e.g. the name Aspergillus is given to certain moulds that show no sexual stages but similar species that form ascocarps are called Eurotium. Some imperfect fungi are classified with their perfect forms. The group is subdivided into the classes * Blastomycetes , * Hyphomycetes , and * Coelomycetes. |
