Classification Of Fungi By Alexopoulos And Mims

This division includes "naked" fungi or slime molds. These organisms are primarily phagotrophic, meaning they ingest solid food particles, and they lack a definitive cell wall during their vegetative phase.

: The true acellular slime molds, characterized by a multinucleate plasmodium. Division II: Mastigomycota classification of fungi by alexopoulos and mims

| Division | Motile cells | Cell wall | Sexual reproduction | Key examples | |----------|--------------|-----------|---------------------|---------------| | Myxomycota | Yes (amoeboflagellate) | None (or cellulose) | Spores in fruiting bodies | Physarum | | Mastigomycota | Yes (zoospores) | Cellulose | Oospores | Phytophthora | | Amastigomycota | No | Chitin | Zygospores, ascospores, basidiospores | Mucor, Agaricus | This division includes "naked" fungi or slime molds

This was a revolutionary inclusion for its time. Alexopoulos and Mims recognized that certain water molds were evolutionarily distinct from true fungi. Division II: Mastigomycota | Division | Motile cells

The classification system proposed by Constantine J. Alexopoulos and Charles W. Mims, particularly in the 1979 edition of their seminal textbook Introductory Mycology , is one of the most influential frameworks in the history of mycology. Their approach provides a logical, morphology-based framework for understanding fungal diversity, emphasizing evolutionary relationships and reproductive structures.