Reptile and amphibian news wrap: The bad news just keeps coming

Science geek? Amphibian lover? Check out "Culture of an amphibian killer" from Phys.org, an in-depth look at chytridiomycosis, a fungus devastating worldwide amphibian populations. Read more... More bad news for amphibians: More than 300 amphibians, including some rare frogs, died from the effects of a massive fire at a Polish zoo. Read more... Dozens of box turtles have fallen victim to ranavirus disease in West Virginia. From WVGazette.com:

Siegel and his Towson colleagues found that an alarming number of turtles -- which can live to be 50 or older and normally have a 98 percent survival rate from year to year -- were dying at the relocation area near the construction site. Thirty-one of the 123 turtles outfitted with the transmitters and released there were found dead within a three-year period. Cars or construction equipment killed three of the turtles, but the rest were felled by disease, which turned out to be ranavirus in 27 cases. "Finding even one dead turtle is unusual," Siegel said in a Washington Post story about the die-off that appeared earlier this year. "Finding over 27 dead turtles in a two-to-three-year period was bizarre." In addition to killing the Maryland box turtles, ranavirus is believed to have been the cause of death of nearly every tadpole and young salamander in the study area since spring of 2010.

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