It all started in 2008 when scientists started noticing fire salamanders in the Netherlands were disappearing. In 2013, scientists identified the culprit: a new-to-science chytrid fungus they named Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal). Its species name means "salamander-eating" because that's literally what it does. As Bsal takes hold, it eats away a salamander's skin, leading to ulcers that get bigger and bigger until pieces of skin start sloughing off. "Bsal is an acute infection that just turns them into little masses of slime in three to four days," said University of California–Berkeley salamander expert David Wake in 2015.

As bad as it's been for salamanders [in Europe], biologists fear this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Because, any day now, they expect it to show up in the United States, home to more salamander species than any other country in the world. To head off a pandemic, researchers say the best thing would be to ban the import of all amphibians into the U.S. But they're not waiting around for that to happen, and are developing a response plan in the meantime to help deal with an outbreak in North America should one occur.

There is still much to figure out. But there's still time to do so. "We are in a very good position right now," [University of Florida's Ana] Longo said. "The fungus has not yet arrived the United States or North America that we know of, so if we can predict which species need [conservation] priority—which species are more susceptible—then we can redirect resources to concentrate our efforts on these species that really need protection.

Read the full article about salamanders threatened by a fungus by Morgan Erickson-Davis at Pacific Standard.