''Phialophora'' is a form genus of

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

with short conidiophores, sometimes reduced to phialides; their

conidia A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...

are unicellular. They may be parasites (including on humans), or saprophytic (including on

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

s). Genetic analysis of ''Phialophora'' shows that it is a

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

grouping. The conidia are produced from a flask shaped phialide. Mature, spherical, to oval conidia are extruded from phialides and usually accumulate around it. Some members of ''Phialophora'' are involved in symbiotic relationships with leafcutter ants where they grow on the cuticle of the ants and fulfill a saprophytic role that aids in the fungal gardening on which the ants rely.

References

External links

* Eurotiomycetes Eurotiomycetes genera {{Eurotiomycetes-stub