Food and Ectoparasites of Indiana Shrews

Abstract

A total of 339 shrews from Indiana was examined during the present study, including 159 Blarina brevicauda, 142 Cryptotis parva, 56 Sorex cinereus, and 16 S. longirostris. Mites of the species Orycteroxenus soricis, Androlaelaps fahrenholzi, and Protomyobia claparedei were important parasites on Blarina, Cryptotis, and S. cinereus. Blarinobia simplex was taken from Blarina, whereas B. cryptotis was taken from Cryptotis and Sorex cinereus. Fleas commonest on Blarina were Ctenopthalmus pseudagyrtes and Doratopsylla blarinae, whereas the major flea of Cryptotis was Corrodopsylla hamiltoni, followed by Ctenopthalmus pseudagyrtes. Five specimens of the beetle, Leptinus americanus, were taken from Blarina. The most important foods of Blarina, listed in order of decreasing abundance were earthworms, slugs and snails, lepidopterous larvae, Gryllidae, and Chilopoda. Corresponding foods for Cryptotis were lepidopterous larvae, earthworms, spiders, internal organs of crickets and grasshoppers, and coleopterous larvae; for Sorex cinereus, they were lepidopterous larvae, coleopterous larvae, slugs and snails, spiders, and Gryllidae.