Fungi that form spores asexually (via mitosis) and that produce their spores externally on threadlike hyphae (as opposed to bearing them inside a fruiting body). In traditional taxonomy, Hyphomycetes was a formal class, but because this group is nonphylogenetic (it is composed of more than one evolutionary lineage), many mycologists now either attach a prefix, as in “form-class Hyphomycetes,” or use the term colloquially, as in “hyphomycetes.” The mitotic spores of hyphomycetes (as well as those of coelomycetes) are called conidia.