Abstract
BACKGROUND: The current investigation was aimed to clarify the correlations between the feeding strategy and lingual structure of the Egyptian fruit bat captured from the Egyptian east desert. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current work was performed on 12 adult Egyptian fruit bats that were observed grossly and with the help of the stereo, light, and scanning electron microscope. There were three types of the lingual papillae: one mechanical (filiform) and two gustatory (fungiform and circumvallate). RESULTS: There were seven subtypes of filiform papillae recognised on the seven lingual regions. There were few fungiform papillae distributed among the filiform papillae on the lingual tip and two lateral parts of apex and body while fungiform papillae were completely absent in the median part. There were three circumvallate papillae. The central bulb of circumvallate papillae was surrounded by one layer of two segmented circular pad. The lingual tip had cornflower-like and diamond-shaped filiform papillae. CONCLUSIONS: Histochemical results revealed that the lingual glands showed a stronger Alcian Blue (AB)-positive reaction and gave dark blue colour, while the reaction for the periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-stain was negative. Also, the glands exhibited a blue colour as an indication of positive AB reactivity with combined AB-PAS staining.