A taxon formerly used in some classifications to include all fungi in which sexual reproduction is apparently absent. These fungi, described as ‘imperfect fungi’ or ‘Fungi Imperfecti’, are now regarded as ascomycotes or basidiomycotes that have lost the ability to produce asci or basidia, respectively, and in some cases it may be possible to identify close sexual relatives, or even sexual stages of the same species, in either of these groups. For example, Penicillium, traditionally classified as a deuteromycote, is now known to have a sexual stage in the form of the ascomycote fungus Talaromyces.