The journal Zoological Letters published an article „A new, widespread venomous mammals species: hemolytic activity of Sorex araneus venom is similar to that of Neomys fodiens venom”. The leading author of the paper is dr. Krzysztof Kowalski from the Department of Vertebrate Zoology and Ecology.
The authors provide the first experimental evidence that shrew venoms produce hemolysis in frog erythrocytes, and that the hemolytic effects of venom of the water shrew Neomys fodiens are stronger than those produced by venom of the common shrew Sorex araneus. In 1607 Edward Topsell suggested in his work „Historie of Foure-footed Beasts” that bites of the common shrew could produce toxic effects. Today, after four centuries, dr. Kowalski and his collaborators (prof. Leszek Rychlik and dr. Paweł Marciniak from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań) prove that the common shrew is indeed venomous. These results shed new light on the evolution of shrew venom. Since a member of the numerous genus Sorex is venomous, it is likely that venom production among shrews and other eulipotyphlans may be more widespread than it has previously been assumed.
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