Hyphochytrids are

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

organisms in the group of

Stramenopiles Stramenopile is a clade of organisms distinguished by the presence of stiff tripartite external hairs. In most species, the hairs are attached to flagella, in some they are attached to other areas of the cellular surface, and in some they have be ...

(Heterokonta).

Characteristics

They are distinguished by an anterior tinsel flagellum on their

zoospores A zoospore is a motile asexual spore that uses a flagellum for locomotion. Also called a swarm spore, these spores are created by some protists, bacteria, and fungi to propagate themselves. Diversity Flagella types Zoospores may possess one or mo ...

. Also they have a rhizoidal or hypha-like vegetative system (hence the prefix "Hypho-").

Classification

This group may be put alternatively at the phylum, class, subclass or order level, being referred to as Hyphochytriomycota, Hyphochytriomycetes (or Hyphochytrea), Hyphochytriomycetidae (or Hyphochytridae) and Hyphochytriales, respectively. The variants Hyphochytri''di''omycota and Hyphochytri''di''omycetes are also sometimes used, presumably by analogy to the Chytridiomycetes, or due to the perpetuation of a typographical error. However, the stem is Hyphochytri- (from ''

Hyphochytrium ''Hyphochytrium'' is a genus of Hyphochytriomycetes Hyphochytrids are eukaryotic organisms in the group of Stramenopiles (Heterokonta). Characteristics They are distinguished by an anterior tinsel flagellum on their zoospores. Also they have ...

'') and not Hyphochytridi- (from ''

Chytridium ''Chytridium'' is a genus of fungi in the family Chytridiaceae. With the culture and characterization of ''Chytridium olla'', the type species of the order, the limits of the Chytridiales were established. ; Names brought to synonymy: * ''Chy ...

''). In the past the classes Hyphochytridiomycetes, Oomycetes and Chytridiomycetes were grouped together in the now obsolete taxon

Mastigomycotina Mastigomycotina is a former polyphyletic taxonomic grouping, a subdivision, of fungi, similar to Phycomycetes, and that included the zoosporic classes Chytridiomycetes, Hyphochytriomycetes, Plasmodiophoromycetes and Oomycetes. General feature ...

as fungi with flagellate spores or gametes. Now the Chytridiomycetes are still considered true fungi, but the other two sub-groups are classified in the kingdom

Protista A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the e ...

, or in the group

. Hyphochytriomycetes are closely related to Oomycetes. Order Hyphochytriales Bessey 1950 ex Sparrow 1960 * Family

Hyphochytriaceae Hyphochytriaceae is a polycentric and endobiotic {{Short pages monitor