Phycomycosis

The fungal order Mucrales, called as zygomycetes or phycomycosis cause  mucormycosis belongs to Mucroaceae including genera Rhizopus, Absidia and  Mucor. The name Zygomycetes is derived from the Greek word “zygos” for  balance. The Zygomycetes was first described as “Phylum des Zygomycètes”  (phylum Zygomycota) by Whittaker (1969). The genus Phycomyces was  originally described as an algal species, Ulva nitens, by Agardh in 1817  (Benjamin and Hesseltine 1959) and hence the genus name was determined  as Phycomyces. In 1823, Kunze recognized it as a fungus, and erected  Phycomyces name for the genus and introduced P. nitens as type species of  the genus (Kunze 1823). Most of the species are heterothallic, few species are  self-fertile (homothallic).