| Abstrak/Abstract |
Thelarge flying fox(Pteropus vampyrusLinnaeus, 1758)is aSoutheast Asian megabat species includeswithfrugivorousbats. Thetongue playsa pivotal role in taking, chewing, and swallowing food. The structure ofthebattongue hampers considerable variation, mainlyinthe papilla. Variations occur owingto the feeding habits, environment, and adaptation of bats to theirenvironments. Theaimofthisstudy wasto clarify the morphological structure of the tongue of P.vampyrusobtained from the island of Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, byusingScanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Light Microscopy(LM). This study includedsixadult batsregardless ofsex. Macroscopically, the tongue of P. vampyrusconsists of three parts: the apex, corpus, and radix.SEMand LM confirmedthat the apex presents filiform papillae ofseveral subtypes, includingscale-like filiform, giant trifid, and small crown-like papillae. In addition, the apexfeaturesfungiform and transitional papillae between the giant trifidandsmall crown-like papillae. Furthermore, the corpus consists of filiform papillae (leaf-like filiform andlargecrown-like papillae) and fungiform papillae. The radix consists of filiform papillae (long conical, leaf-like filiform, and short conical papillae), fungiform papillae,and three V-shaped circumvallate papillae pointingto the larynx |
