By John Ingraham
Can you think of a species that has been wiped out by an infectious agent?
Moselio Schaechter
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May 10, 2012
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Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, to be exact.
Elio replies: We actually asked for the disease, not the agent, but your chytrid has been blamed for very serious diseases of amphibians. Extinction? Maybe.
Posted by: David Marjanović | January 13, 2013 at 05:30 AM
The Tasmanian Devil is dying due to a contagious cancer, but the infectious agent are the tumor cells themselves...
Posted by: Alberto Carmona Bayonas (Murcia, Spain) | May 31, 2012 at 03:01 PM
American Chestnut?
Posted by: Dale Hoyt | May 23, 2012 at 12:11 PM
How would we know?
Posted by: Julian Davies | May 18, 2012 at 06:53 AM
The Tasmanian Devil is on its way out.
But really, H. sap. readily jumps to new environments, and the pelts of whole ecosystems hang from our collective belt.
Posted by: Nathan Myers | May 13, 2012 at 01:20 PM
An estimated hundred amphibian species have been wiped out by chytrid fungus, which has hit frogs particularly hard.
Posted by: Barbara Hyde | May 11, 2012 at 08:16 AM
How about lack of an infectious agent? In that case I would go with all the protoeukaryotes that were not infected with the protomitochondrion.
Posted by: John Ireland | May 10, 2012 at 03:33 PM
Some frog species have likely been in recent times:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/jan/09/conservation.endangeredspecies
Posted by: Steve Hecht | May 10, 2012 at 12:32 PM
The Christmas Island rat is thought to have succumbed to a protozoan that was infecting introduced black rats.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003602
Posted by: Siobain | May 10, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Maybe LUCA? Except, what was doing the infecting? When people say LUCA does that include viruses?
Posted by: Curt F. | May 10, 2012 at 11:38 AM