Microfungi are cosmopolitan microorganisms and are
found in a great variety of diVerent habitats, being common
in temperate as well as tropical forests, but also occurring
in deserts, in the Arctic and Antarctica. Over the last
decades, the Antarctic regions have been investigated
mainly for the presence and exploitation of psychrophilic
bacteria and archea, occasionally for algae and more rarely
for fungi (Ruisi et al. 2007). Onofri et al. (2007) reported
that in Antarctica, 0.6% of the known fungal species are
water molds (kingdom Chromista) and 99.4% are composed
of true fungi including yeasts and Wlamentous fungi
from the phyla Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota
and Basidiomycota.