Fungi

The fungi characteristics are non photosynthetic protists growing as a mass of branching, interlacing filaments “hyphae” known as a mycelium. Although the hyphae exhibit cross wall, the cross walls are perforated and allow free passage of nuclei and cytoplasm. The entire organism is thus a coenocyte a multinucleated mass of continous cytoplasm confined within a series of branching tubes. Theses tubes, made of polysaccharides such as chitin, are homologous with cell walls. The mycelial forms are called molds; a few types, yeasts, do not form a mycelium but are easily recognized as fungi by the nature of their sexual reproductive processes and by the presence of transitional forms.
The fungi probably represent an evolutionary off shoot of the protozoa; they are unrelated to the actinomycetes, mycelial bacteria that they superficially resemble. Classification of fungi are subdivided as follows:
Zygomycotina (phycomycetes)
Ascomycotina (ascomycetes)
Basidiomycotina (basidiomycetes)
Deuteromycotina (the imperfect fungi).

Definations of above subdivided fungi can be studied. The evolution of the ascomycetes from the phycomycetes is seen in a transitional group, members of which from a zygote but then transform this directly into an ascus. The basidiomycetes are believed to have evolved in turn from the ascomycetes.