Hirstionyssus eusoricis Bregetova, 1956

Hirstionyssus eusoricis Bregetova 1956: 184, 191, figs 426, 427, 428, 472 (nom. nov. pro Hirstionyssus soricis sensu Zemskaya, 1955 non Turk, 1945).

Echinonyssus eusoricis — Tenorio 1984: 267.

Hirstionyssus eusoricis — Lange 1958: 216, pl. LXXVII (Л), pl. LXXVIII (Л); Nikulina 1987: 233, 234, fig. 118(9); Senotrusova 1987: 89, fig. 43; Goncharova et al. 1991: 69.

Hirstionyssus soricis— Zemskaya 1955: 360, figs 782–784; Mašán & Fend’a 2010: 151, figs 160–165.

Type locality: No exact type locality is reported. Bregetova (1956) cited findings of this species from Estonia, some regions of European Russia, as well as from western Kazakhstan.

Type series: Unknown (not found in ZIN) .

Type hosts: Sorex araneus Linnaeus, 1758 and Neomys fodiens Pennant, 1771 .

Host range: Though H. eusoricis is usually regarded as a specific parasite of shrews and other soricimorph mammals (Zemskaya 1973; Senotrusova 1987), the findings of this mite from different species of rodents and even from bird nests are known (Nikulina 2004; Mašán & Fend’a 2010). Anyway, the insectivores remain the principal hosts for this parasite.

Distribution: Northern Eurasia; widespread in Asiatic Russia, where occurs in both Siberia and the Russian Far East (Davydova & Nikol’sky 1986; Nikulina 1987, 2004; Goncharova et al. 1991).

Notes: Tenorio (1984) supposed that H. eusoricis may be a synonym of H. soricis (Turk, 1945) . This synonymy has been accepted by Mašán & Fend’a (2010) but not followed by Russian authors (Nikulina 1987, 2004; Goncharova et al. 1991; Korallo 2009).