Microparasites of three species of shrews from Finnish Lapland

Forty-five common shrews, Sorer avaneus, caught in 1997; and 48 S. araneus, 21 masked shrews, Sorer caecutiens, and 25 pygmy shrews Sorer minutus trap ped in 1998 at Kilpisjarvi in northern Finland were examined for microparas ites. Bartonella sp. was found in blood smears of S. araneus both in 1997 ( prevalence 15%) and 1998 (10%) but no blood parasites were found in S. caec utiens or S. minutus. This is the first report of blood parasites of shrews from Finland. A fungal parasite, Pneumocystis carinii, was also observed i n S. araneus both in 1997 (prevalence 31%) and in 1998 (58%). In contrast t o previous reports, 20% of S. minutus had cyst forms of P. carinii in the l ungs but none of the S. caecutiens were infected. Results of this study and related studies from elsewhere indicate that the blood parasite communitie s of Sorer shrews are less diverse than those found in small rodents. In th is study the prevalence of Bartonella was highest in the most abundant host species in the shrew community.