Franky Bossuyt

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a pathogenic chytrid fungus that infects amphibian species. Although salamanders and newts seem to be the most susceptible, some anuran species are also affected. Bsal has emerged recently and poses a major threat to species in Europe and North America. It was described in 2013 based on a strain collected from skin tissue of fire salamanders Salamandra salamandra. The pathogen, unidentified up to then, had devastated fire salamander populations in the Netherlands. Molecular phylogenetics confirmed it as related to the well known chytrid B.