Phycomyces can reproduce via extension of mycelia, or by production of spores either asexually or sexually.

The asexual cycle includes the formation of spore containing sporangia borne on the top of sporangiophores that may extend 10 to 15 cm above the surface of the fungal colony from which they emerged.

The long filamentous sporangiophores respond to divergent environmental signals including light, gravity, wind, chemicals, and adjacent objects.

Two hyphae of different mating type encounter each other, and their tips undergo a septation event to produce gametangia.

[1][2] These products then reproduce by mitotic divisions leading to the formation of a sporangium structure (germosporangium) that develops out from the zygospore.