Morphological Observations on the Tongue of the Flying Fox (<I>Pteropus dasymallus yayeyamae</I>, KURODA 1993)

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  • NISHIMURA Shigeru
    <I>Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo</I>
  • KATO Morio
    <I>Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo</I>

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Other Title
  • ヤエヤマオオコウモリ (<I>Pteropus dasymallus yayeyamae</I>) の舌形態
  • ヤエヤマオオコウモリPteropus dasymallus yayevamae

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Abstract

In the present study are presented structural details of the papilla of the lingua of a flying fox (Pteropus dasymallus yayeyamae) caught in Iriomote Is., Okinawa Prefecture, as seen by scanning electron microscopy and conventional light microscopy. The length of the lingua, which lacked a distinct sulcus medianus, was usually such (about 53-57 mm) that it projected into the extra-oral cavity; the radix linguae had three round papillae vallatae in a triangular arrangement; and the margo linguae showed occasional papillae fungiformes. The papillae filiformes extended over the dorsum linguae, but their shape varied : those in the center of the corpus linguae had trifurcate tips, which gave a roughness typical in the Felidae; those at the apex linguae were larger than in other sites and took the form of scales pointing towards the throat. Thus, characteristics of the species employed in our study seemed to correspond to its specific eating habits, such as its fondness for fruit juice, young bark and flowers and its spitting out of fibrous.

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