Gladiator

Not quite Russell Crowe in the titular movie, but still a champion in its own right. The Gladiator Frog (Hypsiboas gladiator) is a survivor, a survivor of the Bd epizootic that wiped out many other species of amphibians in this region of Peru.  In fact, the Gladiator was so successful in defeating chytrid that it could actually be helping the fungus.  While Gladiators don't seem to die from Bd, they can be infected.  Brandon and Alessandro have proposed that this species may be a supershedder, a spreader of the Bd fungus and a reservoir to keep infection continuously moving through the amphibian community here in Peru.  For more information check out Brandon's research on our lab webpage.