Hyphochytrids are

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

organisms in the group of

Stramenopiles Stramenopile is a clade of organisms distinguished by the presence of stiff tripartite external hairs. In most species, the hairs are attached to flagella, in some they are attached to other areas of the cellular surface, and in some they have be ...

(Heterokonta).

Characteristics

They are distinguished by an anterior tinsel flagellum on their

zoospores A zoospore is a motile asexual spore that uses a flagellum for locomotion. Also called a swarm spore, these spores are created by some protists, bacteria, and fungi to propagate themselves. Diversity Flagella types Zoospores may possess one or mo ...

. Also they have a rhizoidal or hypha-like vegetative system (hence the prefix "Hypho-").

Classification

This group may be put alternatively at the phylum, class, subclass or order level, being referred to as Hyphochytriomycota, Hyphochytriomycetes (or Hyphochytrea), Hyphochytriomycetidae (or Hyphochytridae) and Hyphochytriales, respectively. The variants Hyphochytri''di''omycota and Hyphochytri''di''omycetes are also sometimes used, presumably by analogy to the Chytridiomycetes, or due to the perpetuation of a typographical error. However, the stem is Hyphochytri- (from '' Hyphochytrium'') and not Hyphochytridi- (from ''

Chytridium ''Chytridium'' is a genus of fungi in the family Chytridiaceae. With the culture and characterization of '' Chytridium olla'', the type species of the order, the limits of the Chytridiales were established. ; Names brought to synonymy: * ''C ...

''). In the past the classes Hyphochytridiomycetes,

Oomycetes Oomycota forms a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms, called oomycetes (). They are filamentous and heterotrophic, and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction of an oospore is the result ...

and

Chytridiomycetes Chytridiomycetes () is a class of fungi. Members are found in soil, fresh water, and saline estuaries. They are first known from the Rhynie chert. It has recently been redefined to exclude the taxa Neocallimastigomycota and Monoblepharidomycet ...

were grouped together in the now obsolete taxon

Mastigomycotina Mastigomycotina is a former polyphyletic taxonomic grouping, a subdivision, of fungi, similar to Phycomycetes, and that included the zoosporic classes Chytridiomycetes, Hyphochytriomycetes, Plasmodiophoromycetes and Oomycetes. General fea ...

as fungi with flagellate spores or gametes. Now the Chytridiomycetes are still considered true fungi, but the other two sub-groups are classified in the kingdom

Protista A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the excl ...

, or in the group

. Hyphochytriomycetes are closely related to

. Order Hyphochytriales Bessey 1950 ex Sparrow 1960 * Family Hyphochytriaceae Fischer 1892 ** Genus '' Canteriomyces'' Sparrow 1960 ** Genus '' Cystochytrium'' Ivimey Cook 1932 ** Genus '' Hyphochytrium'' Zopf 1884 'Hyphophagus''_Minden_1911.html" ;"title="Hyphophagus.html" ;"title="' 'Hyphophagus''_Minden_1911">Hyphophagus.html"_;"title="'Hyphophagus">'Hyphophagus''_Minden_1911*_Family_Rhizidiomycetaceae.html" ;"title="Hyphophagus">'Hyphophagus'' Minden 1911">Hyphophagus.html" ;"title="'Hyphophagus">'Hyphophagus'' Minden 1911* Family Rhizidiomycetaceae">Hyphophagus">'Hyphophagus'' Minden 1911">Hyphophagus.html" ;"title="'Hyphophagus">'Hyphophagus'' Minden 1911* Family Rhizidiomycetaceae Karling ex Kirk, Cannon & David 2001 ** Genus ''Latrostium'' Zopf 1894 ** Genus ''Reessia'' Fisch 1883 ** Genus ''Rhizidiomyces'' Zopf 1884 [''Rhizidiomycopsis'' Sparrow 1960]

Diversity

This is a relatively small group, composed of about 16 known species, which may be due in part, to sampling methods of scientists.

References

Bibliography

*C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell et al., ''Introductory Mycology'', 4th ed. John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken NJ, 2004. . *

External links