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Summary: Introduction
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (from here onwards
Bd) is largely implicated in global amphibians
declines (Berger et al., 1998). After the first report
of chytridiomycosis infection in amphibian wild
populations,datingbacktothelatenineties(Bergeretal.,
1998; Pessier et al., 1999), the disease has been detected
in numerous localities around the world (Skerratt
et al., 2007), and currently 365 globally distributed
B. dendrobatidis presence points exist (http://www.
spatialepidemiology.net/bd/).
In Europe, the first documented infections in wild
populations of Rana arvalis (Germany) and Alytes
obstetricans (Spain) caused by Bd date to 2000
(Mutschmann et al., 2000; Bosch, Martínez-Solano and
Garcia-Paris, 2001), while the first record in Italian wild
populations has been reported in 2001 (Stagni et al.,
2004). Later, this disease has been reported in Umbrian
populations (Trasimeno Lake) of the Pelophylax
esculentus complex (Simoncelli et al., 2005; Di Rosa
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