A Cladistic Outline of the Eumycota

Abstract

Abstract— A cladistic classification of fungi determined by a parsimony method with 21 terminal taxa and 51 characters is presented. Outgroup comparison with Oomycetes determined polarity assessments. The group Eumycota, including the traditional taxa Hyphochytriomycetes, Chytridio‐mycetes, Zygomycetes, Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes, is defined by two synapomorphies, molecular weight of 25S RNA, and chitin cell walls. Some groups are supported as monophyletic; Eumycota, Amastigomycota, Dicaryomycotina, Ascomycetes, Protobasidiomycetes, Basidiomycetes, Euascomy‐cetidae, Hymenomycetidae and Homobasidiomycetales. The Hyphochytriomycota is the sister group to remaining groups. The Taphrinaceae and Saccharomycetaceae are more closely related to the Basidiomycetes than to any of the ascomycetous groups. In the absence of unique character sets groups such as the Mastigomycotina, Hemiascomycetes, Ustomycetes, Holobasidiomycetes, Heterobasidio‐mycetes, Phragmobasidiomycetes and the Teliomycetes cannot be maintained and are abandoned as paraphyletic. Characters and terminal taxa used for the analysis are defined and discussed.

Molecular Phylogeny of Parasitic Zygomycota (Dimargaritales, Zoopagales) Based on Nuclear Small Subunit Ribosomal DNA Sequences

“…In these gene trees, and in the ML and MP trees of the expanded data set presented here (Figs. 2 and 3), the Blastocladiales may represent one of the basal-most divergences within the Fungi, which is consistent with their protist-like mode of nuclear division (Heath, 1986) and cladistic analysis of morphology (Tehler, 1988). However, in the strict consensus tree (Fig.…”

Basidiomycota: Homobasidiomycetes

“…However, in a morphological cladistic analysis of fungal phylogeny, Tehler (1988) was unable to find any uncontradicted synapomorphies supporting the monophyly of the homo basidiomycetes. Higherlevel relationships of homo basidiomycetes have been investigated in molecular studies using sequences of nuclear small-subunit ribosomal DNA (nuc-ssu rONA; Taylor 1993, 1995a,b;Gargas et a!.…”

“…This group has been termed the hymenomycete lineage by Swann and Taylor (1993). In addition to homobasidiomycetes, the hymenomycete lineage includes the heterobasidiomycete orders Auriculariales sensu stricto, Dacrymycetales, Tremellales, Ceratobasidiales, and Tulasnellales (Oberwinkler 1972;Bandoni 1984;Tehler 1988;Wells 1994;Sjamsuridzal et al 1997). Major characters that have been used to distinguish homobasidiomycetes from heterobasidiomycetes include basidial morphology, parenthesome ultrastructure, mode of spore germination, and gelatinization of fruiting bodies (Talbot 1973a;Tu and Kimbrough 1978;Julich 1981;Ingold 1985Ingold ,1992Oberwinkler 1985;Wells 1994;see Wells et aI., Chap.…”

A higher-level phylogenetic classification of the Fungi

“…Thus, about 90 % of the 195 taxon names employed in the present classification have been validly published previously. The clade containing the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota is classified as the subkingdom Dikarya (as used in James et al 2006), reflecting the putative synapomorphy of dikaryotic hyphae (Tehler 1988). All of the other new names are based on automatically typified teleomorphic names.…”

“…The description of this group is based mostly on the validating description for the Zoopagales by Benjamin (1979), except that arthrospores have been added, based on Barron's (1975) Asellariales are retained in the Fungi here due to their ultrastructural characteristics (Benny & White 2001;Manier 1973;Moss 1975;Saikawa et al 1997 The name alludes to the putative synapomorphy of dikaryotic hyphae (Tehler 1988) and was applied by James et al (2006) without formal description. Kendrick (1985) and Tehler et al (2003) referred to this group as the Dikaryomycota, but the termination '-mycota' denotes the rank of phylum under the Code.…”