Laakkonen Juha (1) *, Henttonen Heikki (2), Hastriter Michael W. (3), Niemimaa Jukka (2), Jarrell Gordon H. (4) - Hemoparasites and fleas of shrews and rodents from Alaska.
(1) Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, Division of Biology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla,
California 92093-0116, USA; (2) Finnish Forest Research Institute, PO Box 18, FIN-01301, Vantaa, Finland; (3) Monte L. Bean Life Science
Museum, Brigham Young University, 290 MLBM, Provo, UT 84602-0200; (4) University of Alaska Museum, 907 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks,
AK 99775-6960; USA
* Corresponding author: Juha@biomail.ucsd.edu
ABSTRACT
We examined 49 Sorex cinereus, 25 S. tundrensis, 15 S. hoyi, two S. monticolus, two S. ugyunak, 19 Microtus pennsylvanicus,
45 M. oeconomus, 60 M. miurus, 13 Clethrionomys rutilus, six Synaptomys borealis collected from central and northern Alaska
in August 2000 for blood parasites. Bartonella sp. was found in blood smears of 2% of S. cinereus, and Trypanosoma sp. in
blood smears of 7% M. oeconomus. Meronts of Hepatozoon sp. were detected in lungs of 2% of M. oeconomus and 1.5% of
M. miurus. Of possible vectors of blood parasites, species of fleas collected included Amalaraeus dissimilis dissimilis from
M. miurus, Peromyscopsylla ostsibirica from S. tundrensis and M. oeconomus, and Corrodopsylla curvata curvata from
S. cinereus.
KEY WORDS: Ectoparasites, hematozoa, shrews, rodents, Alaska
Page compiled by Aleksander H.Kedra. Last modification:
15-10-2002