[6] In 1933, British mycologist Dr. Rolland Marshall Nattrass described an arthroconidial asexual fungus that he named H. toruloidea that was responsible for causing die-back disease of plum, apricot and apple trees in Egypt.

[3][5] In 1989 Sutton and Dyko created the genus Nattrassia to accommodate H. toruloidea and applied the name Scytalidium dimidiatum to the mycelial synanamorph.

[3] This filamentous fungus[3] produces sinuous and irregular hyphae and is characterized by rapidly growing colonies that are deeply tufted with dense, darkly coloured, ropy aerial mycelium.

[5][8][9] Cultures are rapidly growing, initially light in colour and becoming dark brown and then black with age.

[5] Neoscytalidium dimidiatum is mainly found in tropical to subtropical environments,[10] such as in South America, Southeast Asia, India and Africa.

[3] Melanin is characteristically produced by the fungus in vivo in diseased human tissue where its presence has been interpreted as an important pathogenic factor.

[15] In addition, there have been some papers reporting infections besides dermatomycosis and onychomycosis, such as discovery of this fungus confirmed by DNA analysis to cause a fatal case of lung disease.

[17] Neoscytalidium dimidiatum has been mainly described as an opportunistic[18] plant pathogen,[14] causing pit canker and spot on the stem of plants or fruits, as well as internal black rot of fruits,[18] but a case of internal brown rot of pitahaya was reported from China.