zygomyceteshttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygomycetes_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZygomycetes, n.
First published 1986; not fully revised

Zygomycetesnoun

Botany.
  1. 1887–
    With plural agreement. A class of saprophytic and parasitic fungi in which sexual reproduction is by fusion of usually similar gametangia to produce a zygospore and asexual reproduction is by means of non-motile spores; fungi of this class. Occasionally in singular Zygomycete noun
    1. [1874
      Brefeld does not admit that Chætocladium and Piptocephalis possess sporangia, but only conidia. According to his views, therefore, the term Zygomycetes is more expressive than Mucorini, which he restricts to the sporangiferous Zygomycetes. This, however, appears to us founded on an error.
      Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science vol. 14 56]
    2. 1887
      This coincidence with a fixed period of the year is at least not a general rule in the zygospores of the Zygomycetes.
      H. E. F. Garnsey & I. B. Balfour, translation of H. A. de Bary, Comparative Morphology & Biology of Fungi vi. 345
    3. 1930
      The origin of the Zygomycete line is somewhat more obscure, though forms possessing one or more undoubted zygomycetous characters exist among the Ancylistales and Chytridiales.
      H. M. Fitzpatrick, Lower Fungi: Phycomycetes ii. 34
    4. 1937
      The Zygomycetes..are the first fungi to colonise dung.
      H. Gwynne-Vaughan & B. F. Barnes, Structure & Development of Fungi (ed. 2) 16
    5. 1978
      There are several eukaryote groups where there is, so far, no solidly based evidence for a flagellate ancestry:..(4) zygomycete fungi.
      Bio Systems vol. 10 97/2
    6. 1979
      There are three main methods by which spores are actively released: the bursting of a turgid cell (ascomycetes and some zygomycetes), the rounding off of a surface under tension (some zygomycetes, some basidiomycetes) and the so-called ballistospore discharge.
      I. K. Ross, Biology of Fungi xiii. 378

Zygomycetes, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zygomycetes, n. was last modified in September 2023.