Species ofBenjaminiellaproduce sporangiola on relatively long, curved to twisted and contorted, unbranched pedicels that are formed over the entire surface of the fertile vesicle. The fertile vesicles are formed on the apex of the sporangiophore or its branches. The pedicels and sporangiola are released as a unit when dehiscence occurs at a circimscissile zone formed at the pedicel base; this leaves denticles regularly scattered on the surface of the vesicles. These fungi are homothallic and the zygosporangial wall is pigmented and ornamented, and the zygospore wall is hyaline (Benny et al., 1985; Kirk, 1989).
Benjaminiellaspecies all form yeast cells on nutrient rich media. There is a transition from yeast cells, “intermediate,” and finally the hyphal form. Mannose was four times higher in the cell walls of the yeast phase than in the hyphal phase, with the “intermediate” phase walls having a mannose concentration between of the former two phases. Hexosamine and protein, were in the highest concentration whereas fatty acids were in the lowest concentration in the cell walls of the hyphal phase (Cole et al., 1980). Chitnis et al. (2002) detected eight chitin synthase genes inB. poitrasii; two genes were thought to be specific to the hyphal phase. Nuclear division is synchronous inBenjaminiella multisporaandB. poitrasiibut asynchronous in the species ofMycotyphaexamined (Forst and Prillinger, 1988). (Zygomycetes.org 2015)
Type species:B. poitrasii
Eriksson and Hawksworth (1986) believe thatBenjaminiellav. Arx andBenjaminellaI. Tavares are homonyms but Kirk et al. (2001) do not support this idea. The type species,B. poitrasii, was originally described as a species ofCokeromycesand later it was transferred toMycotypha(Benjamin, 1960; Benny and Benjamin, 1976).Benjaminiellawas included in Cunninghamellaceae by Mil’ko and Beljakova (1967, 1970), and Mil’ko (1974). (Zygomycetes.org 2015)
These fungi have been isolated from dung and soil (Zygomycetes.org 2015)
