Cutaneous Mycobiota of Captive Squamate Reptiles with Notes on the Scarcity of Chrysosporium Anamorph of Nannizziopsis vriesii

ABSTRACT The Chrysosporium anamorph of Nannizziopsis vriesii (CANV) is a fungus that has been implicated in several recent cases of reptile dermatomycoses. A survey was conducted to investigate whether this fungus was present on the skins of healthy squamate reptiles. Skin was collected as aseptically as possible from actively shedding lizards (n = 36) or from freshly shed snake exuvia (n = 91) and placed on fungal culture media for selective recovery of cycloheximide-tolerant fungi. The CANV was cultured from only one animal, an African rock python, Python sebae . Fungi belonging to 50 genera were identified from 127 reptiles: Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., and Paecilomyces lilacinus were most frequently isolated. Keratinophilic fungi isolated from reptiles did not belong to zoophilic or anthropophilic species, inferring that the potential for acquisition of dermatophytosis from handling squamate reptiles is low.