Type host: Blarina brevicauda (Say, 1823), short-tailed shrew.

Type locality: NORTH AMERICA: USA, Ohio, Ashtabula County, 4 km W. 27.4 km S, Ashtabula.

Geographic distribution: NORTH AMERICA: USA, Ohio.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: usually spheroid to subspheroid; number of walls: 2; wall thickness: ~1.5; wall characteristics: outer sculptured, colorless to pale yellow, ~2/3 of total, inner membranous and colorless; L x W: 20.3 x 19.7 (18-23 x 17-23); L/W ratio: 1.0 (1.0-1.1); M: absent; OR: absent; PG: sometimes present as 2-4 fragments of irregular size and shape. Distinctive features of oocyst: spheroid shape, sculptured outer wall and lacking OR.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: ovoid; L x W: 11.3 x 7.6 (10-14 x 7-8); L/W ratio: 1.5 (1.3-1.6); SB: present; SSB: present, about the same width as SB or wider; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: occasionally composed of a large homogeneous body ~4-5, but more often of scattered spheroid globules; SP: with a distinct RB although this was not stated in the original description. Distinctive features of sporocyst: presence of SB and SSB.

Prevalence: 8 of 21 (38%).

Sporulation: Exogenous. Oocyst sporulated in 2.5 % aqueous potassium dichromate solution at ~23º C.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

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

Materials deposited: Skin, skull and tissues of the symbiotype host are preserved in the Mammal Division of the MSB, UNM; MSB No. 43414 (NK 3110, female), D.W. Moore #744, 27 June 1980. Photosyntypes in the USNPC No. 86347.

Remarks: Only Eimeria blarinae Todd, French and Levine, 1986 from B. brevicauda in Illinois had been described form Blarina spp. prior to the description of this species. Although they are both similar in size and shape, E. brevicauda differs from E. blarinae by lacking an OR, but having a SSB. This species has not been reported since its original description.

References: Hertel and Duszynski, 1987.