On the evolutiom of the Meckel's Cartilage in a frugivorows Bat, Epomops franqueti strepitans Andersen (Macrochiroptera, Pteroodidae)
The Meckel's Cartilage of Epomops, a fructivorous bat (Macrochiroptera) of tropical Africa, undergoes an intracartilaginous ossification, like its head's other cartilaginous centers, as it is the rule. The evolution is as follows :
a) The chondroblasts become voluminous, separated from their capsules (polyedral now), degenerated and effaced, while the fundamental matrix disappears.
b) The gaps, surrounded with capsular fragments, are made up and invaded by embryonal cells.
c) The embryonal cells set up the osseous matrix and, afterwards, become osteoblasts.
This evolution, near the one of the Meckel's Cartilage in insectivorous bats (Microchiroptera), is characteristic of the Chiroptera Order in its whole.