​Disease driven amphibian declines are frequently compared to the extinction of dinosaurs and have become an icon of the global biodiversity crisis. The deadly skin disease chytridiomycosis is causing the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease. The recently introduced chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is expanding its range in Europe, remains unmitigated and thus poses an imminent threat to western Palearctic urodele (= salamanders and newts) diversity. While hypersusceptible species invariably die after exposure, other species show a much more variable, individual and dose dependent response, ranging from self-limiting infections with self-cure to lethal disease.