An ascus (plural asci) is the sexual spore-bearing cell prouced in ascomycete fungi. On average, asci normally contain 8 ascospores, produced by a meiotic cell division followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or species can number 1 (e.g. Monosporascus cannonballus), 2, 4, or multiples of four. In a few cases, the ascospores can bud off conidia that may fill the asci (e.g. Tympanis) with hundreds of conidia, or the ascospores may fragment, e.g. some Cordyceps, also filling the asci with smaller cells. Ascospores are nonmotile, usually single celled, but not infrequently may be septate, and in some cases septate in multiple planes. Mitotic divisions within the developing spores populate each resulting cell in septate ascospores with nuclei.