Mitosporic fungus. Hyphomycetes. Teleomorph (sexual state): Neurospora.
Chrysonilia is common and may be more common in the eastern and southeastern areas of the United States. The genus is heterogeneous and is not a natural grouping. Chrysonilia sitophilia commonly grows on sterilized soil in the greenhouse as well as bread (called red bread mold). It has a very rapid growth rate and can be a formidable problem as a contaminant in the laboratory. A single case of human infection was reported in 1961, which was an endophthalmitis following cataract extraction. No information is available regarding other health effects, or toxicity. Allergenicity has not been well studied. May be identified on surfaces by tape lifts, tease mounts from bulk samples, and in air by culturable (Andersen) and spore trap samples. (Spores are a form of arthrospore but are large, variable in size, and distinctive.) Natural habitat is said to be soil, according to some (but not all) references. Chrysonilia sitophilia was formerly called Monilia sitophilia.