Zygomycota
Zygomycota, or zygote fungi, is a large group of 1600 species of fungi.
| Zygomycota | |
|---|---|
| |
| Sporangium of a Phycomyces sp. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi
|
| Phylum: | Zygomycota C. Moreau 1954
|
| Class: | Zygomycetes Winter 1881
|
Fungi are put into groups by the way they reproduce. The name Zygomycota comes from zygosporangia, where strong and tough round shaped spores are formed during sexual reproduction.[1]
They are mostly found living in soil or on decaying plant or animal material. Some are parasites of plants, insects, and small animals. Others form symbiotic relationships with plants, where the plant and the fungi need each other to grow.
Zygomycete hyphae may be a syncytium, that is, having a mass of nuclei not divided into separate cells.[1] On occasion these can be divided into separate parts by a cell wall called a septum.[1] This only happens where gametes are formed, or to wall off dead hyphae.