Abstract
The tongue and lingual papillae of three species of insectivorous bats: Japanese common pipistrelle, Tube-nosed bats and Asian Particolored bats were observed by scanning electron microscopy and compared to those of other bats. The tongues of these three species were elongated and could be divided into two regions: the anterior lingual and lingual torus. The tongues of the Japanese common pipistrelle and Tube-nosed bats have greatly developed lingual torus and all three species possessed four types of lingual papillae i.e. filiform, fungiform, foliate and vallate papillae. Filiform papillae were distributed in the entire dorsal surface and were classified into four types (bifid, truncated cylinder, large and conical) according to their shape and were distributed in different areas on the dorsal surface of the tongue. The fungiform papillae were distributed from anterior tongue to lingual torus. Two vallate papillae were situated symmetrically to the median line in the posterior tongue that were encircled by a papillary groove and annular pad. Foliate papillae were located in the posterolateral region of the tongue with an external oval shaped form with a central part divided by a groove. In conclusion, the tongue in the three species of bats studied have a lingual torus and a unique pattern in the distribution of the four types of filiform, fungiform, two vallate and foliate papillae. This morphology is common with that of other insectivorous bats.
