Teleomorph, anamorph and holomorph

In mycology, the terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota:

• Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), typically a fruiting body.
• Anamorph: an asexual reproductive stage (morph), often mold-like. When a single fungus produces multiple morphologically distinct anamorphs, these are called synanamorphs.
• Holomorph: the whole fungus, including anamorphs and teleomorph.

The terms were introduced in 1981 to simplify the discussion of the procedures of the existing dual-naming system, which (1) permitted anamorphs to have their separate names but (2) treated teleomorphic names as having precedence for being used as the holomorphic name. The Melbourne Code removes the provisions and allows all names to compete on equal footing for priority as the correct name of a fungus, and hence does not use the term holomorph any more.