| Abstrak/Abstract |
Javanese shrew (Tupaia javanica) is one of the type of shrew that can be found on the Java island which mainly feeds on fruits and occasionally insects. This shrew has an important role in the ecosystem as means of spreading seeds of plants and as a control against insects. To this day,
there are no available knowledge about the structure of Javanese shrew’s tongue. Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide data of the tongue structure of the Javanese shrew through two diffrent methods. We investigated the tongue morphology and lingual papillae distribution
of Tupaia javanica by means of 1) microscopical structure by SEM and 2) microscopic organization through histology. Our macroscopical results revealed that the tongue of Tupaia javanica can be divided into three sections: the apex, corpus, and radix. The dorsal surface of the medial corpus is the median groove extends to the radix. Observation using SEM and LM showed that the apex of the tongue bears three types of papillae: scale-like filifrom, small filiform, and fungiform. These are rosette filiform papillae, cornflower filiform papillae, conical papillae and fungiform papillae. The radix of the tongue contains small filifrom papillae, scale-like filiform papillae, valatae papillae, conical papillae and fungiform papillae. On the lateral posterior radix of the tongue there are Weber glands that react positively to PAS reaction. |
