ABSTRACT
Fungal taxonomists are facing the intimidating task of understanding the dual nature of certain pleomorphic fungi that produce spores and conidia as sexual and asexual reproductive structures, respectively, within the same species. This led to the dual nomenclature system for the anamorph (asexual form) and the teleomorph (sexual form) of the same species, despite the fact that it is illogical to assign multiple names to one species. In the last decade, strategies for maintaining a stable nomenclature have been in the forefront of fungal taxonomy, including proposals for the correct anamorph–teleomorph nomenclature. As for other members of the fungal kingdom, thermophilic fungi also face misleading taxonomic decisions. Thermophilic fungi have received considerable attention due to their potential biotechnological applications. Therefore, the accurate naming of such fungi becomes a prerequisite in their industrial application, as their misidentification could lead to a chaotic state in the binomials of some thermophiles in published work. In this chapter, the conflict over name change; one fungus, which name; taxonomies; and name changes and classification of uncultured species is discussed. Finally, unwarranted taxonomies and a shift to one fungus, one name, as adopted by world mycologists during the Amsterdam Declaration, is presented.
