A new kind of skin-eating fungus has been identified as the cause of a mass die-off of fire salamanders in Europe. Fire salamanders, recognisable by their distinctive yellow and black skin patterns, have been found dead in the forests since 2010. The population has fallen to less than 4% of its original level, but what has been killing them has been a mystery until now.
A skin-eating fungus that infiltrated Europe through the global wildlife trade is threatening to inflict massive losses on the continent’s native salamanders including extinction of whole species and could do the same in North America.
An international research team says the fungus, first detected in Europe last year, has killed salamanders in the Netherlands and Belgium and is expected soon to reach other European nations. They say it is closely related to another fungus that already has wiped out some amphibian species.
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