Conidia are best described as:

• A. Diploid spores produced after meiosis
• B. Haploid spores produced asexually and germinate via mitosis
• C. Fungal sexual spores formed during meiosis
• D. Nuclear fusion products

Answer: (B)

Conidia are the asexual, haploid spores of fungi that form without fertilization. They arise from mitotic divisions of fungal hyphae or specialized cells and, when they germinate, they do so by mitosis to grow into new fungal hyphae. Because conidia are produced without meiosis or nuclear fusion, they are not diploid spores formed after meiosis, nor are they sexual spores formed during meiosis, nor products of nuclear fusion. This explains why the description “haploid spores produced asexually and germinate via mitosis” best fits conidia.