Zygomycota
Common Name: Zygospore Fungi
Examples: Black Bread Mold(Rhizopus), Zygospore.Zygomycota is responsible for most of the fungus we see on fruits. Other zygomycetes live as parasites or commensal symbionts of animals.The reproductive cycle of Rhizopus stolonifer is the common cycle for most zygomycetes(pictured below).The structure zygosporangium is where karyogamy and meiosis occur.
This phylum includes Mycrosporidia. Mycrosporidia are unicellular parasites of animals and protists.
Pilobulos:
This zygomycete decomposes animal waste. The mycelium bends its pore-bearing hyphae toward bright light, Then it shoots sporangia.
Dichotomously branching sporangiophore of Thamnidium elegans (Mucorales). The few-spored sporangia are borne at the tips of the sporangiophore branches
Photo of thallus of Genistellospora homothallica (Harpellales) bearing trichospores attached to the hindgut cuticle of a Chilean blackfly.
Rhizopus also consists of a Mycelium, Rhizoids, Stolons, Sporangiophores, Sporangum and Zygospore.
Mycelium: a network of filaments called hyphae.
Types of Mycelium:
1. Rhiziods: root like hyphae that penetrate bread.
2. Stolon : horizontal hyphae
3. Sporangiophores: hyphal stalks that bear sporangia
Sporangium: capsule that produces spores, which are black.
Zygospore: Thick black protective coat that forms around zygote nuclei during sexual reproduction
