Summary
Knowledge concerning microbial infectious diseases in the current amphibian crisis is rudimentary and largely limited to ranavirosis and chytridiomycosis. The family
Chlamydiaceae
is gaining attention as a common cause of disease in amphibians and may harbour new and emerging amphibian pathogens. We identified a novel species of Chlamydiales (Candidatus
Amphibiichlamydia ranarum
) with a prevalence of 71% in exotic invasive bullfrog tadpoles (
Lithobates catesbeianus
) from an introduced population in the Netherlands. The sequence of a 1474 bp 16S rRNA gene fragment showed that the novel taxon forms a well‐defined clade with ‘
Candidatus
Amphibiichlamydia salamandrae’ within the
Chlamydiaceae
family. Although none of the tadpoles examined showed signs of clinical disease, urgent evaluation of its pathogenic potential for native amphibian species is required.