The main culprit in the wavelike series of amphibian crashes is a chytrid fungus, known as Bd.
The hanzaki-loving strains of chytrid appear to differ from those that are proving so virulent to amphibians now.
The Cornell team now plans to do some laboratory experiments to see whether species richness does encourage chytrid to spread.
The Global Amphibian Assessment has warned that a third of the world's amphibian species are in danger of extinction, many because of the chytrid fungus.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Warming link to amphibian disease
Plagued by the chytrid fungus -- which has thrived as water and air temperatures change -- the Panamanian golden frog is all but extinct in the wild.
The chytrid fungus, or BD as it is sometimes called, infects the skins of amphibians such as frogs, toads, salamanders and newts and interferes with their ability to absorb water.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Warming link to amphibian disease
"In the case of the North American salamanders, what was found was that they have bacteria living on their skin that produce peptides that are lethal to the amphibian chytrid fungus, " says Dr Church.
It appears likely now that studies of the Japanese giant salamander can expand the number of chytrid-fighting bacteria known to science, and so extend the options for developing treatments for an infection that currently cannot be controlled in the wild.
Unravelling all that, says Don Church, might tell us something about the origins and spread of chytrid - and there is so much diversity among Japanese chytrid strains that the country is now being touted as a possible origin, as diversity often implies a long evolutionary timeframe.
Gui Becker and Kelly Zamudio from Cornell University in the US analysed statistics on amphibian decline in Brazil, Costa Rica and Australia, and found that chytrid appears to do more damage in pristine forests than in lands that have been cleared or otherwise modified by human hands.
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