Thursday, David Blehert of the United States Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, along with his colleagues, reported that a new form of a Geomyces fungus could have caused the bat die-offs in New England. The report, which was published in the online issue of Science, revealed that the white-nose syndrome, a malady associated with the deaths of thousands of bats, was a fungus-related condition.

Researchers gathered samples from the dead bats and, after the culture showed no microorganisms that could have been linked to the die-offs, they decided to refrigerate the lab samples. Only then were they able to spot the Geomyces fungus, which apparently does not tolerate higher than 10 degrees Celsius temperatures.

During their winter hibernation, the bats cuddle against cave walls and, as a result of their exposure to a type of mold, they develop a ring of fungal growth around the muzzles and on the wings, which eventually kills them.

The white-nose syndrome was only discovered two years ago, when a recreational explorer took a picture inside the Howes Cave west of Albany, New York, which showed the aforementioned fungal growth that affected bats.

By 2007, the syndrome had been recorded in thirty-three states and it has been reported to have already hit six species, including the little brown bat and the Indiana bat, which is endangered species.

Marianne Moore of Boston University, who specializes in bat immunology, has informed that the white-nose syndrome caused, on average, the death of 80 to 100 percent of the bats in hibernation sites.