Since the number of estimated species for the Fungal kingdom is constantly changing, the numbers that I've found in not-so-recent literature may not be adequate anymore. I was wondering what are the current estimates of species that reproduce exclusively by asexual means, as well as the number of species that are capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction.
From the book Sex in Fungi:
"Among the currently named 100,000 or so fungal species, over 17,000 distributed among 1,680 or so genera have no known sexual stages (16). However, phylogenetic analyses over the last 2 decades suggests that most of these apparently "asexual fungi" have close relatives capable of sexual reproduction (...). In addition, aside from variation in reproductive life cycles among species, there is also extensive variation among strains and populations within a species in their ability to mate and produce sexual progeny."
Xu, J. 2007. 'Origin, Evolution, and Extinction of Asexual Fungi: Experimental Test Using Cryptococcus neoformans', in Sex in Fungi: Molecular Determination and Evolutionary Implications, Heitman et al. (eds), ASM Press, Washington, DC.
Their reference 16 is:
Hawkesworth, D.L. et al. 1995. Ainsworth and Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi, 8th ed. International Mycological Institute, Surrey, England.
This of course doesn't answer my question. But it begins to do so.
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