Pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in marbled water frog Telmatobius marmoratus: first record from Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Abstract

The pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been associated with amphibian declines worldwide but has not been well-studied among Critically Endangered amphibian species in Bolivia. We sampled free-living marbled water frogs Telmatobius marmoratus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) from Isla del Sol, Bolivia, for Bd using skin swabs and quantitative polymerase chain reactions. We detected Bd on 44% of T. marmoratus sampled. This is the first record of Bd in amphibians from waters associated with Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. These results further confirm the presence of Bd in Bolivia and substantiate the potential threat of this pathogen to the Critically Endangered, sympatric Titicaca water frog T. culeus and other Andean amphibians.

Long‐term monitoring of tropical alpine habitat change, Andean anurans, and chytrid fungus in the Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru: Results from a decade of study

“…In South America, declines in a number of species including high Andean genera such as Telmatobius have been attributed to chytridiomycosis: Declines in at least ten species of Telmatobius from Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina have been attributed to or associated with Bd (Barrionuevo & Mangione, ; Barrionuevo & Ponssa, ; Catenazzi & von May, ; Catenazzi, von May, & Vredenburg, ; Catenazzi et al., , ; Merino‐Viteri, Coloma, & Almendariz, ; Seimon, Hoernig, Sowell, Halloy, & Seimon, ; Seimon et al., ; von May et al., ), and several studies have documented chytridiomycosis in this genus (Barrionuevo & Mangione, ; Ron & Merino, ; Seimon et al., , ). Bd has been documented in Telmatobius marmoratus and the Critically Endangered Telmatobius culeus (Titicaca water frog) from Lake Titicaca, Bolivia (Berenguel, Elias, Weaver, & Reading, ; Cossel, Lindquist, Craig, & Luthman, ; Zevallos, Elias, Berenguel, Weaver, & Reading, ), and in captive T. marmoratus in markets of Peru, indicating that this pathogen is also being moved around by the food trade (Angulo, ; Catenazzi et al., ; Kosch et al., ; von May et al., ).…”

Temperature exposure and possible thermoregulation strategies in the Titicaca water frog Telmatobius culeus, a fully aquatic frog of the High Andes

“…In 2017 the species was also included in Appendix I of CITES (CITES 2016). The species is facing a variety of threats such as habitat destruction, overharvesting, introduced exotic species, climate change (Icochea et al 2004) and emerging infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis (Catenazzi et al 2010, Cossel et al 2014, Zevallos et al 2016, Burrowes & De la Riva 2017a. T. culeus has experienced serious population declines (Icochea et al 2004, De la Riva & Reichle 2014 and in the last few years, local massive die-offs have been reported (BAI 2015, Molina et al 2017).…”