Bat fungus in Europe.

A fungus linked to bat die-offs has now been found in Europe, according to an update. In what's known as white-nose syndrome, the fungus forms patches on the noses and other exposed skin of hibernating bats. The bats emerge too early in the season and die emaciated, as if from starvation. Mycologist Andrea Gargas of Symbiology, an independent research organization in Middleton, Wis., and colleagues named the fungus Geomyces destructans and described it in the April-June Mycotaxon. White-nose syndrome first came to scientific notice in New York. Now the fungus ranges from Canada south to Virginia, Gargas reported July 28. Genetic evidence also indicates that the fungus is in Europe, though there haven't been reports of widespread die-offs there, Gargas said.