Type host: Condylura cristata (Linnaeus, 1758), Star-nosed mole.

Other hosts: None reported to date.

Type locality: NORTH AMERICA: USA, Vermont, Lamoille Co., 6.4 km E, 3.2 km S Morrisville.

Geographic distribution: NORTH AMERICA: USA, Oio, Vermont.

Description of oocyst: Oocyst shape: ellipsoid, tapering toward both ends; number of walls: only 1 obvious layer; wall thickness: ~1.5; wall characteristics: smooth; L x W: 21.6 x 13.0 (19-23 x 11-14); L/W ratio: 1.7 (1.4-1.8); M: absent; OR: absent; PG: 1. Distinctive features of oocyst: ellipsoid shape tapering at both ends.

Description of sporocysts and sporozoites: Sporocyst shape: spindle-shaped, tapering to a point at one end; L x W: 14.9 x 7.7 (14-16 x 7-8); L/W ratio: 1.95 (1.8-2.2); SB: present, prominent and wide; SSB: absent; PSB: absent; SR: present; SR characteristics: many dispersed granules of various sizes; SP: with 1 RB at mid-body. Distinctive features of sporocyst: spindle-shape with prominent SB, but no SSB.

Prevalence: 2/24 (8%), including 1/6 (17%) from Ohio and 1/12 (8%) from Vermont, but 0/2 from Maine and 0/4 from Massachusetts.

Sporulation: Exogenous. Oocysts sporulated in 7-10 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. 43323 (NK 3055, female), R.M. Sullivan #488, 17 June, 1980. Photosyntypes in the USNPC No. 80628.

Remarks: Sporulated oocysts of this species most closely resemble those of I. sporopointaea Duszynski and Wattam, 1988 and I. talpae Agostinucci, 1955. They differ from the former by lacking a mammillated outer wall, but by having a PG (vs none), by having larger oocysts with a larger L/W ratio (1.7 vs 1.5) and by lacking a SSB. They differ from the latter by lacking a M, by having a PG, by the shape of the SB (flat vs nipple-like), and by having sporocysts that are pointed at the end opposite the SB (vs rounded).

References: Duszynski (1989).