Type host: Parascalops breweri (Bachman, 1842), Hairy-tailed mole.

Other hosts: None reported to date.

Type locality: NORTH AMERICA: USA, Ohio, Ashtabula Co.

Geographic distribution: NORTH AMERICA: USA, Massachusetts, Ohio.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: spheroid to subspheroid; number of walls: 2; wall thickness: >1.0; wall characteristics: outer layer smooth, ~2/3 of total thickness; inner layer smooth; L x W: 19.7 x 14.4 (16-24 x 10-18); L/W ratio: 1.4 (1.1-1.8); M: absent; OR: absent; PG: absent. Distinctive features of oocyst: a membranous material, perhaps a thin inner oocyst wall layer, appears to hold the sporocysts together.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: ovoid; L x W: 10.2 x 7.2 (7-14 x 5-9); L/W ratio: 1.4 (1.1-2.0); SB: present, thickened, but not pointed; SSB: absent; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: small, dispersed granules obscurng SP; SP: obscured by SR. Distinctive features of sporocyst: thick, flattened SB without SSB.

Prevalence: 5/16 (25%) P. breweri, including 2/9 (22%)from Franklin Co., MA and 3/7 (43%) from Ashtabula Co., OH.

Sporulation: Exogenous. Oocysts sporulated in 7-10 days in 2.5% aqueous (w/v) potassium dichromate solution at 23 C.

Prepatent and patent periods: Unknown.

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

Materials deposited: Skin, skull, skeleton and tissues of the symbiotype host are preserved in the Mammal Division of the Museum of SW Biology, UNM: MSB No. 43418 (NK 3109, female), R.M. Sullivan #509, 28 June, 1980. Photosyntypes in the USNPC No. 80587.

Remarks: Oocysts of this species resemble only those of I. araneae Golemansky, 1978, but differ by having a SB and lacking a PG. The original description of I. araneae did not include a photomicrograph of a sporulated oocyst, but the line drawing showed one end of each sporocyst to be pointed, which is not the case with I. ashtabulensis.

References: Ford and Duszynski (1989).