Evolution of Fungi and Update on Ethnomycology

Abstract

The Entomophthoromycota is a newly described fungal phylum comprising what seem to be the oldest of all extant terrestrial (nonflagellate) fungi. These fungi, formerly treated in the now rejected Zygomycota, form a monophyletic group that is genetically, morphologically, developmentally, and biologically distinct from all other zygomycetous fungi. The phylogenetically based revision of these fungi in a new phylum validated the previous, traditionally based classification of all of these fungi in six families, although these families are now redistributed among three classes in the phylum. The general biology of these fungi is outlined here as a means of both underscoring the appropriateness of this new classification. A series of systematic questions about these fungi still needs to be addressed through further studies and perhaps through finding more genes that might be appropriate for discovering the phylogenetic relationships among these fungi.