What are These Chytrids? Barr (1) delineated the order
Spizellomycetales from the Chytridiales based on distinctive
zoospore ultrastructure. Rhizophlyctis rosea was included in
this new order, but recent ultrastructural and molecular
analyses demonstrate that R. rosea is a morphogenus distinct
from the Spizellomycetales (2). As a consequence a new order has
been established which includes four families and four genera,
each with distinctive zoospore ultrastructure (2). Current
systematic synthesis of the order Rhizophlyctidales: The Order
Rhizophlyctidales (2) includes four genera: These Chytrids are
Found in Diverse Habitats: Rhizophlyctidalean chytrids are
common in the soil worldwide (2). (1) Barr, D. J. S. 1980. An
outline for the reclassification of the Chytridiales, and for a
new order, the Spizellomycetales. Canadian Journal of Botany 58,
2380–2394. (2) Letcher, P.M., M. J. Powell, Donald J. S. Barr,
Perry F. Churchill, William S. Wakefield, and Kathryn T. Picard.
2008. Rhizophlyctidales is a new order