First evidence of Clavicipitaceous fungus attacking a vertebrate

Metapochonia bulbillosa ( Clavicipitaceae ) was isolated as a causative agent of a new frog mycosis of Pelophylax porosus brevipodus , one of the endangered frogs in Japan. Analysis of spontaneous outbreaks and infection experiments confirmed that the fungus can lethally affect Pelophylax porosus brevipodus , as well a s Dryophytes japonicus . This is the first evidence that a species of Clavicipitaceae , originally known as a plant pathogen, also affects vertebrates.