ีuntil the middle of the 20th century,fungi were classified as plants today,biochemical,struclural,and genetic analyses suggest that fungi evolved from the same protist-like ancestor that gave rise to animals. in the more than billion years since,they have diversified greatly.mycologis,the scientists who study fungi,estimate that there are as many as 1.5 million species of fungi (inferred by dna sampling) only about 100,000 species have been named.most of