Fig 1) Pedicellate, unispored sporangia of C. echinulata that typically cover the surface of a terminal fertile vesicle. Fig 2) Sporangiola are covered with elongate spines at maturity. Fig 3) Reddish-brown zygospores between opposed suspensors. Images by Kerry O'Donnell.

Cunninghamella echinulata (Thaxter) Thaxter ex Blakeslee NRRL 1382, the type species of Cunninghamella, was deposited in the ARS Culture Collection in 1940.  This morphologically distinct member of the Cunninghamellaceae (Order Mucorales) was isolated originally by the famous Harvard mycologist Roland Thaxter from a seed (O’Donnell et al. 2000; Walther et al. 2013).  Species within this genus are characterized by the asexual production of pedicellate, unispored sporangia that typically cover the surface of a terminal fertile vesicle (Fig. 1).   The sporangiola are covered with elongate spines at maturity (Fig. 2).  During the sexual phase of its heterothallic (or self-sterile) life cycle, C. echinulata produces ornamented, reddish-brown zygospores between opposed suspensors (Fig. 3).  Several species of Cunninghamella can cause infections in humans (Alvarez et al. 2009).  The whole-genome sequence of C. echinulata was sequenced to provide a representative of the Cunninghamellaceae for the 1000 Fungal Genome Project (http://1000.fungalgenomes.org/home/), which is focused on elucidating evolution of the early diverging fungi.

References:

Alvarez E, Sutton DA, Cano J, Fothergill AW, Stchigel A, Rinaldi MG, Guarro J. 2009. Spectrum of zygomycete species identified in clinically significant specimens in the United States. J. Clin. Microbiol. 47:1650–1656.
O’Donnell K, Lutzoni F, Ward TJ, Benny GL. 2000. Evolutionary relationships among mucoralean fungi (Zygomycota): Evidence for family polyphyly on a large scale. Mycologia 93:286─296.
Walther G, Pawłowska J, Alastruey-Izquierdo A, Wrzosek M, Rodriguez-Tudela JL, et al. 2013. DNA barcoding in Mucorales: an inventory of biodiversity. Persoonia 30:11–47.