 The Zygomycetes Zygomycetes include a variety of fungi. The black bread mold is a common zygomycete. It decomposes bread, fruits, vegetables, and decaying animals and produces a fuzzy black growth on its substrate. Fewer than 1,000 zygomycete species have been identified and classified. Mycologists, scientists who study fungi believe that number represents only a small fraction of the total zygomycetes. All zygomycetes form a zygospore as part of their sexual mode of reproduction. Zygomycetes can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction is by spores formed in the sporangia. In non-septate hyphae, cytoplasm flows freely along the length of the hyphae and closing many nuclei. The presence of sporangia and non-septate hyphae clearly indicate membership in this group of fungi. There are not enough differences in the chemistry of fungi to indicate gender. Fungi do, however, require different mating types in order to sexually reproduce. In zygomycetes, two opposing mating types come together to combine their haploid nuclei in a structure called a zygospore. A zygospore often deposits thick chitin walls around itself to weather adverse conditions. Under the right conditions, such as in the presence of moisture and food, the zygospore haploid nuclei combine to form diploid nuclei. As is true in members of this kingdom, fungi mostly exist in the haploid phase. So as soon as syngomy occurs, the combining of the two haploid nuclei, meiosis follows. The shuffling of the genes is accomplished in the meiotic process. In the case of the zygomycetes, a hyphae with a sprangium emerges out of the zygospore ready to release its haploid spores. You have completed this learning object, the zygomycetes.