ABSTRACT
One of the fungi more commonly encountered on damp bread or rotten vegetable matter or freshly deposited dung belongs to the genus Mucor. Its colonies are white and fast growing but become grey to brown or black due to the development of erect hyphal sporangiophore in which the tip swells to form a globose sporangium containing uninucleate, haploid sporangiospores. During sexual reproduction, two compatible strains form short, specialized hyphae called gametangia. At the point where two complementary gametangia contact, they fuse to form thick-walled, black zygospores. Nuclear karyogamy and meiosis (sexual recombination) occur within the zygospores.
