First Report of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in the Warty Toad, Rhinella spinulosa (Wiegmann, 1834), from the Argentinean Andean Foothills

SANABRIA, EDUARDO; LÓPEZ, JAVIER ALEJANDRO; LEVY, MICHAEL; GHIRARDI, ROMINA; QUIROGA, LORENA

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

Año: 2017 vol. 48

0018-084X

The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been highlighted as one of the suspected drivers of amphibian declines world-wide. The bufonid genus Rhinella includes 91 species broadly distributed around the world. The Warty Toad, R. spinulosa, inhabits the Andean slopes of Argentina, Chile (scrubland and grassland of the Altiplano region in the North to the southern Nothofagus forest region), Bolivia and Perú. There are reports of Bd in three species of this genus in Argentina: R. achalensis, R. arenarum and R. fernandezae. Herein we report the presence of Bd in the Warty Toad Rhinella spinulosa (sensu lato) from populations in the Argentinean Andean foothills.We found Bd presence in 5 of 22 (23%) swabs, at 5 of 13 (38%) populations across 3 of the 5 sampled Provinces. Four of 15 (27%) swabs tested for Bd presence in R. spinulosa populations 1 to 12 were Bd-positive, including one pooled sample of 31 toads. One specimen from Iruya Iturbe (population 1) was found dead and it was positive for Bd. In Huerta de Huachi (population 13), 1 of 7 (14%) independently swabbed individuals was positive for Bd infection (Ct 40.16).