The philosophy and practicalities of amalgamating anamorph and teleomorph concepts

The separate naming of fungal anamorphs (those producing spores through mit osis) and teleomorphs (with spores formed after a meiotic event) has until now been an unavoidable complication for many fungal groups, due to the rar ity with which multiple morphs are encountered, and technical difficulties in linking stages of life cycles. This arrangement has great practical valu e for identification, but is massively confusing to non-taxonomists who can not understand why a single organism can have more than one correct name. I t is also a major barrier to information flow. The rapidly increasing amoun ts of data available from molecular phylogenetic studies, as well as from t raditional culture-based connection work, mean that the integration of the two classification systems is becoming more feasible, at least for many eco nomically important fungal groups. The need to prepare for this event is st ressed, and options are considered for managing the change with minimum dis ruption to working scientists.