Mucoromyceta

Mucoromyceta is a subkingdom of fungi which includes the divisions Calcarisporiellomycota, Glomeromycota, Mortierellomycota and Mucoromycota. This enormous group includes almost all molds.

Sources published prior to Tedersoo et al. 2018 refer to this taxon as a phylum Mucoromycota, with three subphyla. In a 2016 study using this older treatement of "Mucoromycota" equivalent to current Mucoromyceta, the group appears as sister to Dikarya.

Informally known as zygomycetes I, Mucoromyceta includes Mucoromycotina, Mortierellomycotina, and Glomeromycotina, and consists of mainly mycorrhizal fungi, root endophytes, and plant decomposers. Mucoromycotina and Glomeromycotina can form mycorrhiza-like relationships with nonvascular plants. Mucoromyceta contain multiple mycorrhizal lineages, root endophytes, and decomposers of plant-based carbon sources. Mucoromycotina species known as mycoparasites, or putative parasites of arthropods are like saprobes. When Mucoromyceta infect animals, they are seen as opportunistic pathogens. Mucoromycotina are fast-growing fungi and early colonizers of carbon-rich substrates. Mortierellomycotina are common soil fungi that occur as root endophytes of woody plants and are isolated as saprobes. Glomeromycotina live in soil, forming a network of hyphae, but depend on organic carbon from host plants. In exchange, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi provide nutrients to the plant.