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As with some things in science that are new or not greatly explored, terminology isn't always agreed upon or fully established. Pellicles are a good example of this. It's been stated on this wiki and elsewhere that a pellicle is a subtype of biofilm. However, the widely accepted definition of a "biofilm" in biology doesn't describe pellicles that we see in fermentation. The widely accepted definition of a "biofilm" is an aggregate of microorganisms where the cells adhere to each other on a surface <ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZDKAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT87&lpg=PT87&dq=brock+microbiology+biofilm&source=bl&ots=PwNZ20KFqq&sig=19lvlfqYj8bE7roiA7g4oJ3Xl0E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAWoVChMImZaUmN_AxwIVVFmICh1pQgk0#v=onepage&q=brock%20microbiology%20biofilm&f=false e-Study Guide for Brock Biology of Microorganisms, textbook by Michael T. Madigan.]</ref>. Pellicles in beer do not attach to a solid surface, they appear on the "air-liquid interface" (the surface of the beer). They are also not colonies within an adhesive <ref name="Bryan">[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1131334646894748/?comment_id=1131986723496207&offset=0&total_comments=57&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R3%22%7D Conversation with Bryan Heit about Pellicles on MTF. 08/20/2015.] </ref>. To make matters even more confusing, the two widely accepted definitions of a "pellicle" in biology are the outer boundary of a protozoa cell <ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ACBcDjDLuNAC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=pellicle+biology&source=bl&ots=58e43A_9h-&sig=ViakT4Ectu4DOlqoSWRCPFJ73iw&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CGIQ6AEwDGoVChMIp6WkouTAxwIVgpmICh0F1wXO#v=onepage&q=pellicle%20biology&f=false Biology of Protozoa. D.R. Khanna. Discovery Publishing House, Jan 1, 2004. Pg 38.]</ref>, and the protein film that forms on the surface of teeth <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_pellicle Wikipedia. Dental Pellicle. Retrieved 08/23/2015.]</ref>.
Recently, there have been studies that define a "pellicle" as we see in fermentation as a type of biofilm that forms on the air-liquid interface of a liquid (see references) <ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25756106 Gram-negative bacteria can also form pellicles. Armitano J, Méjean V, Jourlin-Castelli C. Environ Microbiol Rep. 2014 Dec.]</ref><ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26047954 Identification of genes essential for pellicle formation in Acinetobacter baumannii.]</ref><ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26047954 Identification of genes essential for pellicle formation in Acinetobacter baumannii. Giles SK, Stroeher UH, Eijkelkamp BA, Brown MH. BMC Microbiol. 2015 Jun 6.]</ref><ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26122431 Motility, Chemotaxis and Aerotaxis Contribute to Competitiveness during Bacterial Pellicle Biofilm Development. Hölscher T, Bartels B, Lin YC, Gallegos-Monterrosa R, Price-Whelan A, Kolter R, Dietrich LE, Kovács ÁT. J Mol Biol. 2015 Jun 26.]</ref><ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24035282 Modulation of curli assembly and pellicle biofilm formation by chemical and protein chaperones. Andersson EK, Bengtsson C, Evans ML, Chorell E, Sellstedt M, Lindgren AE, Hufnagel DA, Bhattacharya M, Tessier PM, Wittung-Stafshede P, Almqvist F, Chapman MR. Chem Biol. 2013 Oct 24.]</ref>. Although these studies don't directly look at beer pellicles, this indicates that the definition of a pellicle as stated in this wiki may become more widely accepted in the scientific community.
The bottom line is that what is referred to as a "pellicle" in fermentation has not been widely studied, and the terminology is not widely established yet scientifically. Indeed, when researching "biofilms" and "pellicles", results will mostly refer to the more well established topics. Research done on traditional biofilms cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the pellicle phenomenon seen in fermentation.