ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE CYST WALL OF SARCOCYSTIS SP. IN ROE DEER

Samples of heart, tongue, oesophagus and diaphragm muscle from twenty- two naturally infected roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) harvested in cen tral Italy were examined for sarcosporidiasis. The structure of Sarcoc ystis spp. muscle cysts was examined by light and electron microscopy. Only one type of thin-walled cyst was distinguished by light microsco py. Electron microscopy showed cysts having a thin highly folded prima ry cyst wall, without fibrillar material, that formed thin hair-like p rotrusions often having a T-form, especially close to host cell mithoc ondria. The cysts appeared to belong to a single Sarcocystis sp. so th at all the animals had monospecific infections. This cyst was compared with cysts described in other cervid in an attempt to determine if si ngle or multiple species of the genus Sarcocystis occur in the Cervida e. Apparently, a single Sarcocystis sp. with a low specificity for the intermediate host can infect the Cervidae.