Trichomycetes in the Catalogue of Life

The trichomycetes (Fungi, class Trichomycetes plus ecologically related protozoans) are a cosmopolitan group of organisms that grow obligately in the guts of insects, crustaceans and millipedes that live in freshwater, marine or terrestrial habitats. Many trichomycetes appear to be commensalistic, but under particular circumstances they may provide their hosts with some essential organic nutrients. Some are known to produce cysts in the ovaries of adult females hosts which, in addition to sterilizing the host, serve as a mechanism of dispersal.