Type host: Sorex araneus Linnaeus, 1758, Eurasian common (Gomel) shrew.

Other hosts: Sorex minutus Linnaeus, 1766, Pygmy shrew.

Type locality: EUROPE: Russia, Gomel Distric.

Geographic distribution: EUROPE: Bulgaria,; Lithuania; Russia.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: ovoidal with both ends either rounded or pointed; number of walls: 1; wall thickness: ~1.0; wall characteristics: smooth, yellow; L x W: 28.0 x 19.4 (18-33 x 13-24); L/W ratio: 1.4; M: absent; OR: absent; PG: 1; Distinctive features of oocyst: elongate, ovoidal shape with pointed ends.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: ellipsoid (line drawing); L x W: 15 x 10 (from Golemansky, 1979); SB: absent; SSB: absent; PSB: absent; SR: presence or absence could not be determined by the authors, but none shown in their drawing; SP: sausage-shaped without RB (line drawing). Distinctive features of sporocyst: nondescript, without SB.

Prevalence: 1/26 (4%) from the Gomel District, Russia; 1/2 (50%) in S. minutus from Bulgaria (golemansky, 1979).

Sporulation: Unknown.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

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

Materials deposited: None.

Remarks: No information on sporocyst structure was given in the original description by Yakimoff an Gousseff (1935), although they did provide 2 line drawings which, unfortunately, are quite different. The first shows an oocyst with rounded ends and 4 sporoblasts, while the second is 25% larger and shows an oocyst with pointed ends. Either the oocysts increase in size during sporulation or during patency, or they were dealing with 2 differnt species, or most likely, the oocysts were not drawn to scale relative o each other. This species was reported for the second time in S. minutus by Golemansky (1979) from the Parangalista Reserve in Bulgaria; the oocysts he saw were 27-29 x 23-25 and sporocysts were 15 x 10. It also was reported from S. araneus from the Zagare Botancial and Zoological Preserve, Lithuania, by Arnastauskiene and Maldziunaite (1979).

References: Yakimoff and Gousseff (1935); Arnastauskiene and Maldziunaite (1979); Golemansky (1979).