Cierocka Karolina, Izdebska Joanna N, Rolbiecki Leszek
Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Sep 17;11(9):2712. doi: 10.3390/ani11092712.
Only six parasitic species of Demodecidae mite have thus far been described from the Soricomorpha, these being associated with the common shrew Linnaeus, 1758, and the Mediterranean water shrew Cabrera, 1907 (two species from each host), and with the lesser white-toothed shrew (Pallas, 1811) and the European mole Linnaeus, 1758 (one from each host species). Presently, , a new species, has been described from the territory of Poland for ; in order to confirm its validity, it was necessary to redescribe Hirst, 1921, from , a demodecid species first described by Hirst in 1921 from England and then noted only in Poland. Both species colonized the hairy skin of the body in their hosts, where no disease symptoms of infestation were observed. However, showed higher infection parameters (prevalence 100%, mean intensity 11.7, intensity range 3-26 individuals) than those of (30.0%, 4.7, 2.0-8.0), possibly due to different host biology.