Chaetomium Kunze, Mykologische Hefte 1: 15 (1817)

Index Fungorum number: IF953

Type species: Chaetomium globosum Kunze, Mykologische Hefte 1: 16 (1817).

Notes: The genus Chaetomium was introduced by Kunze (1817). Chaetomium is the largest group in Chaetomiaceae, with more than 350 accepted species. This ascomycetous generic taxa are commonly found in soil, air, or on plant debris (Udagawa et al. 1997, Zhang et al. 2017). Phylogenetic evidence suggested that Chaetomium is a polyphyletic genus related to several anamorphic genera, with distinctions between Achaetomium, Chaetomium, and Thielavia being ambiguous (Wang et al. 2019, 2022c). The sexual morph is characterized by having ascomata with pore-like opening and usually covered with a high diversity of hairs or setae (straight; arcuate; undulate; undulate with coiled tips; sinuous to loosely coiled; compactly coiled and dichotomously branched), membranaceous peridium, paraphyses, fusiform or cylindrical, fasciculate, evanescent, 8-spored asci, formed single-celled ascospores, with germ pores; the asexual morph was described with globose, catenate conidia (Wang et al. 2016 a, Abdel-Azeem 2020). Because of its high diversity and significant potential in biocontrol, Chaetomium has recently become an important research topic (Yang et al. 2023a).