Snake fungal disease is caused by the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, which infects the skin of snakes and causes a wide range of symptoms. These symptoms can range from a few crusty or dry scales to serious lesions and eroding scales that can, in severe cases, be fatal for the infected snake.
One component of our long-term work with Spotted Turtles in the southeastern U.S. has been to collect tissue samples from captured Spotted Turtles so we can examine the genetics of focal populations. The results from this research were recently published in the journal Chelonian Conservation and Biology.
The Orianne Society began working with Spotted Turtles in Georgia all the way back in 2014. At that time, little was known about this species in the southeastern U.S. Most of the published research on Spotted Turtles came from the northeast…