Fungi also are important crop parasites, causing loss of food plants, spoilage of food and some infectious diseases. Over 60,000 species of fungi are known. It seems likely that fungi are not a monophyletic group. The Division Zygomycota consists of fewer than 1000 species. The zygomycete hyphae do not have one nucleus per cell, but rather have long multinucleate, haploid hyphae that comprise their mycelia.
Asexual reproduction is by spores produced in stalked sporangia .
Sexual reproduction involved the fusion of haploid mating hyphae to produce a diploid zygospore . Image from W.H. Freeman and Sinauer Associates, used by permission. There are less than 1000 species of zygomycetes . Common bread molds are in this group, as are a few species that parasitize plants and animals. Most zygomycetes feed on dead or decaying plant and animal material.