Psychrophilic and psychrotolerant fungi on bats and the presence of Geomyces spp. on bat wings prior to the arrival of white nose syndrome.

Since 2006, Geomyces destructans, the causative agent of white nose syndrome (WNS), has killed over 5.7 million bats in North America. The current hypothesis suggests that this novel fungus is an invasive species from Europe, but little is known about the diversity within the genus Geomyces and its distribution on bats in the United States.