Ustilaginomycetes is the
class of true
smut fungi
The smuts are multicellular fungi characterized by their large numbers of teliospores. The smuts get their name from a Germanic word for dirt because of their dark, thick-walled, and dust-like teliospores. They are mostly Ustilaginomycetes (phyl ...
. They are plant
parasites with about 1400 recognised
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
in 70
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...
. They have a simple septum with a septal pore cap, this is different from Agaricomycotina which has a dolipore septum with parenthoesome.
The group is
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...
(has a common ancestor).
References
Ustilaginomycotina
Fungal plant pathogens and diseases
Fungus classes
{{fungus-plant-disease-stub