COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease to hibernating bats, has been found for the first time in Texas, state researchers revealed Thursday.

The fungus was detected in samples taken from three bat species — tri-colored, cave myotis and Townsend's big-eared bats — in Childress, Collingsworth, Cottle, Hardeman, King and Scurry counties of northwestern Texas, according to a statement from the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources and Bat Conservation International.

No cases of the disease were found in those counties, but the presen...