Type host: Talpa europaea (Linnaeus, 1758), European mole.

Other hosts: None reported to date.

Type locality: EUROPE: England: Avon, 1.0 km E. of the town of Frenchay.

Geographic distribution: EUROPE: England.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: elongate-ellipsoid; number of walls: 2; wall thickness: <1.0; wall characteristics: outer layer smooth, ~1/2 of total thickness, inner layer transparent; L x W: 15.0 x 9.6 (13-20 x 7-12); L/W ratio: 1.7 (1.3-2.3); M: absent; OR: absent; PG: absent. Distinctive features of oocyst: elongate-ellipsoid shape with thin wall.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: ovoid; L x W: 6.6 x 3.6 (5-9 x 3-7); L/W ratio: 1.7 (1.2-2.2); SB: present; SSB: absent; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: several large, dispersed globules; SP: with 1 large, central RB, although this was not included in the original description. Distinctive features of sporocyst: very small size.

Prevalence: 15/33 (435%).

Sporulation: Oocysts were sporulated when returned to the lab from the field.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

Site of infection: Unknown. Oocysts recovered from feces and intestinal contents.

Materials deposited: Skull, skin, skeleton and tissues of the symbiotype host are preserved in the Mammal Division of the Museum of SW Biology, UNM: MSB No. 48363 (male), T.L. Yates #1102, 22 August 1982. Photosyntypes in the USNPC No. 85981.

Remarks: Only 7 of the Eimeria spp. described from insectivores have oocysts which aproach being ellipsoid, but 6 of these are short ellipsoids with L/W ratios ranging from 1.2-1.4. Only E. tanabei from the Large Asian mole, Mogera robusta (Syn. M. wogura coreana), from Japan (Tanabe, 1938) approaches the shape of E. avonensis; however, the latter is larger (13-20 x 7-12 vs 10-13 x 6-8), and has sporocysts with a distinct SB, which those of E. tanabei lack.

References: Duszynski and Wattam (1988).