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Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Infection and Lethal Chytridiomycosis in Caecilian Amphibians (Gymnophiona) |
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| Authors: | David J Gower Thomas Doherty-Bone Simon P Loader Mark Wilkinson Marcel T Kouete Benjamin Tapley Frances Orton Olivia Z Daniel Felicity Wynne Edmund Flach Hendrik Müller Michele Menegon Ian Stephen Robert K Browne Mathew C Fisher Andrew A Cunningham Trenton W J Garner |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK 2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Biogeography, University of Basel, Basel, 4056, Switzerland 3. Project Cameroon Herpetology, Conservation Biology Foundation, Yaoundé, Cameroon 5. Herpetology Department, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK 4. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK 6. Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College, London, W2 1PG, UK 7. Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, Holybourne Avenue, London, SW15 4JD, UK 8. Veterinary Department, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK 9. Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie mit Phyletischem Museum, Friedrich Schiller Universit?t Jena, Erbertstrasse 1, 07743, Jena, Germany 10. Sezione di Zoologia dei Vertebrati, Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Via Calepina 14, 38100, Trento, Italy 11. Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium |
| Abstract: | Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is commonly termed the ‘amphibian chytrid fungus’ but thus far has been documented to be a pathogen of only batrachian amphibians (anurans and caudatans). It is not proven to infect the limbless, generally poorly known, and mostly soil-dwelling caecilians (Gymnophiona). We conducted the largest qPCR survey of Bd in caecilians to date, for more than 200 field-swabbed specimens from five countries in Africa and South America, representing nearly 20 species, 12 genera, and 8 families. Positive results were recovered for 58 specimens from Tanzania and Cameroon (4 families, 6 genera, 6+ species). Quantities of Bd were not exceptionally high, with genomic equivalent (GE) values of 0.052–17.339. In addition, we report the first evidence of lethal chytridiomycosis in caecilians. Mortality in captive (wild-caught, commercial pet trade) Geotrypetes seraphini was associated with GE scores similar to those we detected for field-swabbed, wild animals. |
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