The Taphrinomycotina are one of three subdivisions constituting the

Ascomycota Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...

(fungi that form their

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s in a sac-like ascus) and is more or less synonymous with the slightly older invalid name Archiascomycetes (sometimes spelled Archaeascomycetes; archea = ancient). Recent molecular studies suggest that the group is monophyletic and basal to the rest of the Ascomycota. The major taxa are

Schizosaccharomycetes Schizosaccharomycetes is a class in the kingdom of fungi. It contains the order Schizosaccharomycetales, the fission yeasts. The genus Schizosaccharomycetes is a broad and ancient clade within Ascomycota including five known fission yeast: '' ...

Taphrinomycetes The Taphrinomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi belonging to the subdivision Taphrinomycotina. It includes the single order Taphrinales, which includes 2 families, 8 genera and 140 species In biology, a species is the basic unit of ...

Neolectomycetes ''Neolecta'' is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that have fruiting bodies in the shape of unbranched to lobed bright yellowish, orangish to pale yellow-green colored, club-shaped, smooth, fleshy columns up to about 7 cm tall. The species share ...

, and

Pneumocystis The Pneumocystidomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi. It includes the single order Pneumocystidales, which contains the single monotypic family Pneumocystidaceae, which in turn contains the genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic r ...

. The

are the

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

s (e.g. ''

Schizosaccharomyces ''Schizosaccharomyces'' is a genus of fission yeasts. The most well-studied species is ''S. pombe''. At present five Schizosaccharomyces species have been described (''S. pombe'', ''S. japonicus'', ''S. octosporus'', ''S. cryophilus'' and ''S. ...

'') that reproduce by fission rather than budding, unlike most other yeasts, many of which are in the subdivision

Saccharomycotina Saccharomycotina is a subdivision (subphylum) of the division (phylum) Ascomycota in the kingdom Fungi. It comprises most of the ascomycete yeasts. The members of Saccharomycotina reproduce by budding and they do not produce ascocarps (fruitin ...

. The

are dimorphic plant parasites (e.g. ''

Taphrina ''Taphrina'' is a fungal genus within the Ascomycota that causes leaf and catkin curl diseases and witch's brooms of certain flowering plants. One of the more commonly observed species causes peach leaf curl. ''Taphrina'' typically grow as yea ...

'') with both a yeast state and a filamentous (

hyphal A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

) state in infected plants. They characteristically infect leaves, catkins, and branches, not roots. Taphrinomycetes form asci but no

ascomata An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mos ...

. The

are species in a single genus, ''

Neolecta ''Neolecta'' is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that have fruiting bodies in the shape of unbranched to lobed bright yellowish, orangish to pale yellow-green colored, club-shaped, smooth, fleshy columns up to about 7 cm tall. The species share ...

'', which are the only members of the subdivision that form

(fruiting bodies), and which specifically grow out of root tips. They may have a yeast state (ascospores bud in the asci). The

Pneumocystidomycetes The Pneumocystidomycetes are a class (biology), class of ascomycete fungi. It includes the single order (biology), order Pneumocystidales, which contains the single monotypic family (biology), family Pneumocystidaceae, which in turn contains the ...

also encompasses only one genus of yeasts, ''Pneumocystis'', one of which causes ''Pneumocystis'' pneumonia in humans by developing cysts on the lung tissue. None has ascogenous hyphae giving rise to the asci.

References

The Oregon Coalition of Interdisciplinary Databases: "Archiascomycetes: Early Diverging Ascomycetes"
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133815 Ascomycota Opisthokont subphyla