Mucor amphibiorum is a fungus found in Australia that causes infections in amphibians and platypuses. Because M. amphibiorum belongs to the genus Mucor, the infection is classified as a form of mucormycosis. The fungus was first reported from a German zoo in 1972 where it caused disease in a species of green tree frog that was imported from Austrialia and infected frogs, toads, and salamanders in neighboring exhibits. [1] It is most commonly found in frogs and toads in Queensland, New South Wales, and Northern Territory, and in platypuses in Tasmania. [1]
Colonies grow up to 25 mm in height, are grayish brown, slightly aromatic, and will not grow at temperatures of 37 °Celsius. Sporangiophores are unbranched, or rarely sympodially branched. Sporangia are dark brown and up to 75 μm in diameter. Sporangiospores are globose, smooth walled, and 3.4 – 5.4 μm in diameter. Zygospores are globose or slightly compressed and 60 – 70 μm in diameter.
The goliath frog, otherwise known commonly as the giant slippery frog and the goliath bullfrog, is a species of frog in the family Conrauidae. The goliath frog is the largest living frog. Specimens can grow up to 32 centimetres (12.6 in) in length from snout to vent, and weigh up to 3.25 kilograms (7.2 lb). This species has a relatively small habitat range in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Its numbers are dwindling due to habitat destruction, collection for food, and the pet trade.
Chytridiomycosis is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extinctions of amphibian species in western North America, Central America, South America, eastern Australia, east Africa (Tanzania), and Dominica and Montserrat in the Caribbean. Much of the New World is also at risk of the disease arriving within the coming years. The fungus is capable of causing sporadic deaths in some amphibian populations and 100% mortality in others. No effective measure is known for control of the disease in wild populations. Various clinical signs are seen by individuals affected by the disease. A number of options are possible for controlling this disease-causing fungus, though none has proved to be feasible on a large scale. The disease has been proposed as a contributing factor to a global decline in amphibian populations that apparently has affected about 30% of the amphibian species of the world. Some research found evidence insufficient for linking chytrid fungi and chytridiomycosis to global amphibian declines, but more recent research establishes a connection and attributes the spread of the disease to its transmission through international trade routes into native ecosystems.
The Wyoming toad, also known commonly as Baxter's toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. The Wyoming toad is an extremely rare amphibian that exists only in captivity and within Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming in the United States. The Wyoming toad was listed as an endangered species in 1984, and listed as extinct in the wild since 1991. As with black-footed ferrets at the Tom Thorne and Beth Williams Wildlife Research Center at Sybille in Wheatland, Wyoming, the effort to save the Wyoming toad has been a cooperative effort among state and federal agencies and private landowners. The Wyoming toad was common from the 1950s through the early 1970s, but its distribution was limited to the Laramie Basin in Albany County. The population crashed around 1975 and was extremely low by 1980. The Wyoming toad was federally listed as endangered in January 1984. To prevent extinction, a captive-breeding program began in 1989 at the Thorne Williams Unit that produced enough offspring in its first few years to supply seven zoos, and in 1998 the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery received captive-breeding stock. Nearly 46,000 offspring were produced at the Thorne Williams Unit from 1995 until 2006, when the remaining captive stock was moved to the Red Buttes Environmental Biology Laboratory south of Laramie, and then released back into the wild. Before the sharp declines occurred, this toad had been originally classified as Bufo hemiophrys baxteri, a subspecies of the Canadian toad, by Kenneth Raymond Porter in 1968.
Rheobatrachus, whose members are known as the gastric-brooding frogs or platypus frogs, is a genus of extinct ground-dwelling frogs native to Queensland in eastern Australia. The genus consisted of only two species, the southern and northern gastric-brooding frogs, both of which became extinct in the mid-1980s. The genus is unique because it contains the only two known frog species that incubated the prejuvenile stages of their offspring in the stomach of the mother.
Holdridge's toad, formerly Bufo holdridgei, is a species of toad endemic to Costa Rica. In October 2008, it was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in its Red List since the species had not been seen since 1987, despite years of extensive searches. However, the species was rediscovered in 2010 by a Costa Rican herpetologist and is now classified as critically endangered. It is believed that the species is most threatened by the presence of the chytrid fungus in its habitat.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as Bd or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians.
Mucor is a microbial genus of approximately 40 species of molds in the family Mucoraceae. Species are commonly found in soil, digestive systems, plant surfaces, some cheeses like Tomme de Savoie, rotten vegetable matter and iron oxide residue in the biosorption process.
Basidiobolus ranarum is a filamentous fungus with worldwide distribution. The fungus was first isolated by Eidam in 1886. It can saprophytically live in the intestines of mainly cold-blooded vertebrates and on decaying fruits and soil. The fungus prefers glucose as a carbon source and grows rapidly at room temperature. Basidiobolus ranarum is also known as a cause of subcutaneous zygomycosis, usually causing granulomatous infections on a host's limbs. Infections are generally geographically limited to tropical and subtropical regions such as East and West Africa. Subcutaneous zygomycosis caused by B. ranarum is a rare disease and predominantly affects children and males. Common subcutaneous zygomycosis shows characteristic features and is relatively easy to be diagnosed; while, certain rare cases might show non-specific clinical features that might pose a difficulty on its identification. Although disease caused by this fungus is known to resolve spontaneously on its own, there are a number of treatments available.
The Panamanian golden frog, also known as Cerro Campana stubfoot toad and other names, is a species of toad endemic to Panama. Panamanian golden frogs inhabit the streams along the mountainous slopes of the Cordilleran cloud forests of west-central Panama. While the IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered, it may in fact have been extinct in the wild since 2007. Individuals have been collected for breeding in captivity in a bid to preserve the species. The alternative common name, Zetek's golden frog, and the epithet zeteki both commemorate the entomologist James Zetek.
Mucor mucedo, commonly known as the common pinmould, is a fungal plant pathogen and member of the phylum Mucoromycota and the genus Mucor. Commonly found on soil, dung, water, plants and moist foods, Mucor mucedo is a saprotrophic fungus found world-wide with 85 known strains. It is often mistaken for Rhizopus rots on fruits due to similar mould growth shape and colour. Contrastingly, however, Mucor mucedo is found to grow on a wide range of stored grains and plants, including cucumber and tomato. Discovered in Italy in 1729 by P.A. Micheli and later noted by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in the Species Plantarum, Mucor mucedo was originally classified as Mucor vulgaris by Micheli but later classified synonymous under name Mucor mucedo. The species was redescribed as Ascophora mucedo by H.J. Tode in 1790 but this type resided in a stoloniferous habitat and was later made the type of new genus Rhizopus.
Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, is a serious fungal infection that comes under fulminant fungal sinusitis, usually in people who are immunocompromised. It is curable only when diagnosed early. Symptoms depend on where in the body the infection occurs. It most commonly infects the nose, sinuses, eyes and brain resulting in a runny nose, one-sided facial swelling and pain, headache, fever, blurred vision, bulging or displacement of the eye (proptosis), and tissue death. Other forms of disease may infect the lungs, stomach and intestines, and skin. The fatality rate is about 54%.
The golden toad is an extinct species of true toad that was once abundant in a small, high-altitude region of about 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi) in an area north of the city of Monteverde, Costa Rica. It was endemic to elfin cloud forest. Also called the Monte Verde toad, Alajuela toad and orange toad, it is commonly considered the "poster child" for the amphibian decline crisis. This toad was first described in 1966 by herpetologist Jay Savage. The last sighting of a single male golden toad was on 15 May 1989, and it has since been classified as extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Microsporum gypseum is a soil-associated dermatophyte that occasionally is known to colonise and infect the upper dead layers of the skin of mammals. The name refers to an asexual "form-taxon" that has been associated with four related biological species of fungi: the pathogenic taxa Arthroderma incurvatum, A. gypsea, A. fulva and the non-pathogenic saprotroph A. corniculata. More recent studies have restricted M. gypseum to two teleomorphic species A. gypseum and A. incurvatum. The conidial states of A. fulva and A. corniculata have been assigned to M. fulvum and M. boullardii. Because the anamorphic states of these fungi are so similar, they can be identified reliably only by mating. Two mating strains have been discovered, "+" and "–". The classification of this species has been based on the characteristically rough-walled, blunt, club-shaped, multicelled macroconidia. Synonyms include Achorion gypseum, Microsporum flavescens, M. scorteum, and M. xanthodes. There has been past nomenclatural confusion in the usage of the generic names Microsporum and Microsporon.
Apophysomyces variabilis is an emerging fungal pathogen that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infection in humans. This fungus is a soil-dwelling saprobe with tropical to subtropical distribution. It is a zygomycete that causes mucormycosis, an infection in humans brought about by fungi in the order Mucorales. Infectious cases have been reported globally in locations including the Americas, Southeast Asia, India, and Australia. Apophysomyces variabilis infections are not transmissible from person to person.
Mucor plumbeus is a fungus in the family Mucoraceae that is very common, abundant and distributed worldwide. Mucor plumbeus is not known to be a plant or animal pathogen; however it is able to elicit an immune response in humans by activating the complement system. This species is commonly found in various types of soils over a range of pH, although alkaline soils seem more conducive to its growth. It is also known from the roots of wheat, oat and barley. In addition, M. plumbeus is a common fungal contaminant of indoor built environments. This species shares many similarities with M. racemosus, another fungus that belongs to the family Mucoraceae which is known to cause mucormycosis. Mucor plumbeus is a common spoilage agent of cheese, apples, apple cider and yogurt.
Rhizopus oryzae is a filamentous heterothallic microfungus that occurs as a saprotroph in soil, dung, and rotting vegetation. This species is very similar to Rhizopus stolonifer, but it can be distinguished by its smaller sporangia and air-dispersed sporangiospores. It differs from R. oligosporus and R. microsporus by its larger columellae and sporangiospores. The many strains of R. oryzae produce a wide range of enzymes such as carbohydrate digesting enzymes and polymers along with a number of organic acids, ethanol and esters giving it useful properties within the food industries, bio-diesel production, and pharmaceutical industries. It is also an opportunistic pathogen of humans causing mucormycosis.
Mucor circinelloides is a dimorphic fungus belonging to the Order Mucorales. It has a worldwide distribution, found mostly in soil, dung and root vegetables. This species is described as not known to be able to produce mycotoxins, however it has been frequently reported to infect animals such as cattle and swine, as well as fowl, platypus and occasionally humans. Ketoacidotic patients are particularly at risk for infection by M. circinelloides.
Mortierella polycephala is a saprotrophic fungus with a wide geographical distribution occurring in many different habitats from soil and plants to salt marshes and slate slopes. It is the type species of the genus Mortierella, and was first described in 1863 by Henri Coemans. A characteristic feature of the fungus is the presence of stylospores, which are aerial, spiny resting spores (chlamydospores).
Mycotypha microspora, also known as Microtypha microspora, is a filamentous fungus in the division Zygomycota. It was discovered in a Citrus aurantium peel in 1932 by E. Aline Fenner, who proposed a new genus Mycotypha to accommodate it. Mycotypha africana, which is another species in the genus Mycotypha, is closely related to M. microspora. The fungus has subsequently been isolated from both outdoor and indoor settings around the world, and is typically found in soil and dung. The species rarely causes infections in humans, but has recently been involved in the clinical manifestation of the life-threatening disease mucormycosis.
Mucor fragilis is an endophytic fungus that causes the mold that can be found on grapes, pole beans, loquat, and on the roots of medicinal plants like Radix pseudostellariae. It belongs to the order Mucorales and phylum Mucoromycota. The observed symptoms showed the presence of fluffy and soft fungal mycelium with white to dark brown discoloration that deteriorated the beans and grapes quality.