The Lingual Dorsal Surface of the Blue‐Tongue Skink (Tiliqua scincoides)

Abstract

The blue-tongue lizard (Tiliqua scincoides) is a variety of large skink common throughout Australia. There are seven species of Tiliqua and all of them have long bodies, short limbs and short and robust tails. T. scincoides occurs in a wide range of habitats; its diet is omnivorous. When threatened, it opens the mouth and protrudes its characteristic large fleshy cobalt blue tongue. It is currently found as a popular species and also as a pet animal in the European countries. No data are available in literature about the morphology of the tongue of T. scincoides; therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate by means of scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy, the anatomy of the dorsal lingual surface. Our results demonstrate the presence of a tongue tip with a smooth surface without papillae. The foretongue was characterized by a stratified epithelium with foliate-like papillae and deep inter-papillar spaces in the middle part and cylindrical papillae with a flat surface in the lateral parts. All the posterior area of the tongue was characterized by more compacted papillae and the inter-papillar spaces were very narrow. Light microscopy showed the presence of melanin throughout the tongue. No taste buds were recognized on the lingual dorsal surface. Therefore, the papillae probably have a mechanical function showing an important role in the swallowing phase. The morphology of the tongue surface can be correlated to the diet and, different roles, as in other examined species, can be hypothesized for different areas.

Histological and morphological observations on tongue of Scincella tsinlingensis (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincidae)

“…In addition, Crocodilians generally have taste buds in the oral epithelium and lingual epithelium (Ferguson, 1981), and some Testudines have taste buds in the oropharyngeal mucosa (Iwasaki and Kumakura, 1994). Taste buds are not existing in lingual epithelium of T. scincoides and some Testudines (Abbate et al, 2009;Cizek et al, 2011).…”

“…The snakes' tongue are thought to be a way adsorbing odorants in the air instead of feeding by flicking, and might be used exclusively for olfaction in cooperation with vomeronasal organs (Gillingham and Clark, 1981). When its security was under threatening, Tiliqua scincoides protrudes its large fleshy cobalt blue tongue to resist enemies (Abbate et al, 2009).…”

Morphology of the european sea bass (dicentrarchus labrax) tongue

“…After several rinsings in the same phosphate buffer, they were dehydrated in a graded alcohols series, critical-point dried in a Balzers CPD 030, sputter coated with 3-nm gold in a Balzers BAL-TEC SCD 050 and examined under a Cambridge Stereoscan 240 electron microscope (Zeiss ex Cambridge Instruments, Cambridge, UK) operating with an accelerating voltage of 20 kV. For better ascertaining the morphological details, some samples were washed in 5% neutral Extran (Merck, Damstadt, Germany) to remove the mucus (Abbate et al, 2006(Abbate et al, , 2008(Abbate et al, , 2009(Abbate et al, , 2010. For light microscopy, the routine methods for hematoxylin and eosin and Masson Trichrome staining were carried out.…”

Light and scanning electron microscopy of the tongue of the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)

“…The dorsal surface of the tip of the tongue is smooth in many lizards such as the green anole, Anolis carolinensis [18], blue-tongued skink, Tiliqua scincoides [2], Japanese lizard, Takydromus tachydromoides [13], bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps [21], Italian lizard, Podarcis sicula [3], rough tailed rock agama, Laudakia stellio [16] and green iguana, Iguana iguana [1,6].…”

“…Cylindriform papillae were distinguished on the dorsal lingual surface in the green anole, Anolis carolinensis [18], blue-tongued skink, Tiliqua scincoides [2], rough tailed rock agama, Laudakia stellio [16], green iguana, Iguana iguana [1,6], Madagascan collared iguana, Oplurus cuvieri [8], Italian lizard, Podarcis sicula [3] and bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps [21]. Plumose papillae were described in the green anole, Anolis carolinensis [18] and bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps [21].…”