title: Scratching the sporocyst surface: characterisation of European Aggregata species by atomic force microscopy.
abstract: The application of atomic force microscopy to the understanding of surface structure and atomic-scale measurements on the sporocyst of European Aggregata species, intracellular coccidia of the cephalopods Octopus vulgaris and Sepia officinalis, is presented here. Using the roughness mean surface (RMS) as an index, we reveal texture to be a key parameter for characterisation of the sporocyst surface properties, which resolve the historical synonymy within the European Aggregatidae. Roughness measurements from RMS algorithms may also be an important diagnostic taxonomic character for the differentiation of Aggregata species in the future.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas (CSIC), Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gestal
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guerra
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pascual
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D016782:Apicomplexa / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods