Zygomycetes in the Catalogue of Life

The Mucorales, Zoopagales, Dimargaritales and Kickxellales are characterised by a wide range of life strategies for such a relatively small number of phylogenetically related species. Whilst most are saprobic (in soil) others are pathogenic on plants, animals (including man) and other fungi, either facultatively and unspecialized or highly host specific. They are mainly mesophiles but some are psychrophiles and others thermophiles; most are temperate but some only have a tropical distribution and a number of species are very widely distributed, having been recorded from the Antarctic, high northern latitudes and both east and west in temperate and tropical zones.