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A zygomycotic infection in captive snakes.

We report disseminated, fatal fungal disease involving subcutaneous and visceral tissues in 4 captive snakes (1 Elaphe guttata, 2 Crotalus horridus, and 1 Pituophis melanoleucus). The etiologic agent, which was abundant in the lesion, had a rounded form in vivo with a prominent nucleus. These cells averaged 17 microns in diameter and reproduced by fission, forming clusters of two or four daughter cells. The etiologic agent was isolated on Sabouraud dextrose agar from one of the snakes. It also grew well on various mycologic media, forming soft, raised, glabrous, tannish colonies. The colonies were composed of large spherical cells with prominent nuclei that reproduced by fission like those seen in tissue. In addition, some of the cells were observed to germinate, forming rudimentary hyphal filaments that were up to 8 microns in diameter and 100 microns in length, with occasional septa and thick-walled structures regarded as azygospores. We consider the fungus to be a zygomycete that may belong to the order Entomophthorales.