Morphological Study of the Lingual Papillae in Mellivora capensis Tongue

Abstract

Background: The present study was conducted on the three Mellivora tongues, and the tongue was divided into three portions, apex, body and base. The tongue was tapered at the apex, wider in the middle and had elevation at the base, which termed torus linguae. The tongue is triangular in shape, and the length of tongue ranged between 58-60 mm. The dorsum linguae of this wild animal were characterized by presence of median groove. Methods: After killing, the Mellivora capensis were skinned and the heads were dissected to approach the tongue. The tongues were prepared for morphometric and morphological studies. Results: The morphological study revealed five types of lingual papillae (filiform, conical, fungiform, circumvallate and foliate). The filiform were numerous and scattered on the entire dorsal and lateral surfaces. They were thread like projections, and found in different forms (single, bifurcated, trifurcated and serrated end). The conical papillae were found among the filiform papillae with rounded ends. The fungiform papillae have dome or mushroom-shapes and distributed at the apex of the tongue. The circumvallate papillae were globular or circular shapes and surrounded by trench and located at posterior of tongue between the end of body and torus linguae. The foliate papillae were found on the posterio-lateral surface of the tongue, ridges-shaped and were separated by grooves. Conclusion: The present study showed five types of dorsal lingual papillae: filiform, conical, fungiform, cicumvallate and foliate.