scholarly journals The Tongue in Three Species of Lemurs: Flower and Nectar Feeding Adaptations

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2811
Author(s):  
Juan Francisco Pastor ◽  
Magdalena Natalia Muchlinski ◽  
Josep Maria Potau ◽  
Aroa Casado ◽  
Yolanda García-Mesa ◽  
...  

The mobility of the primate tongue allows for the manipulation of food, but, in addition, houses both general sensory afferents and special sensory end organs. Taste buds can be found across the tongue, but the ones found within the fungiform papillae on the anterior two thirds of the tongue are the first gustatory structures to come into contact with food, and are critical in making food ingestion decisions. Comparative studies of both the macro and micro anatomy in primates are sparse and incomplete, yet there is evidence that gustatory adaptation exists in several primate taxa. One is the distally feathered tongues observed in non-destructive nectar feeders, such as Eulemur rubriventer. We compare both the macro and micro anatomy of three lemurid species who died of natural causes in captivity. We included the following two non-destructive nectar feeders: Varecia variegata and Eulemur macaco, and the following destructive flower feeder: Lemur catta. Strepsirrhines and tarsiers are unique among primates, because they possess a sublingua, which is an anatomical structure that is located below the tongue. We include a microanatomical description of both the tongue and sublingua, which were accomplished using hematoxylin–eosin and Masson trichrome stains, and scanning electron microscopy. We found differences in the size, shape, and distribution of fungiform papillae, and differences in the morphology of conical papillae surrounding the circumvallate ones in all three species. Most notably, large distinct papillae were present at the tip of the tongue in nectar-feeding species. In addition, histological images of the ventro-apical portion of the tongue displayed that it houses an encapsulated structure, but only in Lemur catta case such structure presents cartilage inside. The presence of an encapsulated structure, coupled with the shared morphological traits associated with the sublingua and the tongue tip in Varecia variegata and Eulemur macaco, point to possible feeding adaptations that facilitate non-destructive flower feeding in these two lemurids.

Zoo Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 250-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Collins ◽  
Ilse Corkery ◽  
Amy Haigh ◽  
Sean McKeown ◽  
Thomas Quirke ◽  
...  

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Karolyi ◽  
Teresa Hansal ◽  
Harald W. Krenn ◽  
Jonathan F. Colville

Although anthophilous Coleoptera are regarded to be unspecialised flower-visiting insects, monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae: Hopliini) represent one of the most important groups of pollinating insects in South Africa’s floristic hotspot of the Greater Cape Region. South African monkey beetles are known to feed on floral tissue; however, some species seem to specialise on pollen and/or nectar. The present study examined the mouthpart morphology and gut content of various hopliine species to draw conclusions on their feeding preferences. According to the specialisations of their mouthparts, the investigated species were classified into different feeding groups. Adaptations to pollen-feeding included a well-developed, toothed molar and a lobe-like, setose lacinia mobilis on the mandible as well as curled hairs or sclerotized teeth on the galea of the maxillae. Furthermore, elongated mouthparts were interpreted as adaptations for nectar feeding. Floral- and folial-tissue feeding species showed sclerotized teeth on the maxilla, but the lacinia was mostly found to be reduced to a sclerotized ledge. While species could clearly be identified as floral or folial tissue feeding, several species showed intermediate traits suggesting both pollen and nectar feeding adaptations. Mismatches found between mouthpart morphology and previously reported flower visiting behaviours across different genera and species requires alternative explanations, not necessarily associated with feeding preferences. Although detailed examinations of the mouthparts allowed conclusions about the feeding preference and flower-visiting behaviour, additional morphological and behavioural investigations, combined with greater taxon sampling and phylogenetic data, are still necessary to fully understand hopliine host plant relationships, related to monkey beetle diversity.


1984 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Thomas ◽  
B. Crawford ◽  
S. Eastman ◽  
R. Glofscheskie ◽  
M. Heir

1976 ◽  
Vol 148 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Howell ◽  
Norman Hodgkin

Author(s):  
Dan McCarter ◽  
Brent Shumaker ◽  
Bryan McConkey ◽  
Hash Hashemian

As the fleet of nuclear power plants (NPPs) approach their1 original qualified life (typically 40 years) and operators seek license extensions, regulators require assurance that they can continue to operate safely in the decades to come. Some of the most important, yet often overlooked components, are the cables that provide the signal paths for instrumentation and control (I&C) systems used to ensure safe and efficient operation of NPPs.In response to this, the authors explore the use of expanding indenter modulus (IM), an industry-accepted technique for cable condition monitoring, into a prognostic tool for predicting the remaining useful life (RUL) of I&C cables. Not only is this technique non-destructive, but it can be performed while NPP cables are in service, thus making it practical for adoption into existing cable condition monitoring programs. In this paper, the authors describe an accelerated aging cable test bed used to acquire several types of measurement parameters as cables age. Additionally, practical techniques are described in which simple IM measurements can be leveraged for condition monitoring and RUL estimation.Error analysis indicates the proposed method is superior to conventional RUL estimation techniques, such as simple trending and curve fitting. The authors demonstrate that using IM can potentially provide a non-destructive, in-situ estimation of RUL for I&C cables. As described in this paper, the IM data clearly shows trends as a function of cable age, and shows promising performance for RUL estimation especially compared with conventional techniques.


TREUBIA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Djunijanti Peggie ◽  
Supadi Supadi ◽  
Guntoro Guntoro ◽  
Muhammad Rasyidi

Troides helena and Pachliopta adamas utilize the same food plant species: Aristolochia acuminata. For the purpose of captive breeding and conservation, it is desirable to find out whether they can co-exist in captivity. Captive breeding research was conducted on the butterfly species within the period of October 2016 to September 2019. In total, 1,361 individuals were observed. Data on adult emergence of the species is presented to show population trends. Both species co-existed poorly at the facility when food plants were limited.  It took 45.9 days for T. helena helena and 32.6 days for Pc. adamas adamas from egg to imago stage. Habitat enrichment can encourage the species to come and establish the population.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Palagi ◽  
Ivan Norscia

However despotic a social group may be, managing conflicts of interest is crucial to preserve group living benefits, mainly based on cooperation. In fact, in despotic groups post-conflict management via reconciliation (the first post-conflict reunion between former opponents) can occur, even if at variable levels. In the despotic Lemur catta reconciliation was reported in one out of four captive groups. We used this species as a model to understand what variables influence the occurrence of the reconciliation in despotic groups. We analyzed 2339 PC-MC collected on eight groups (five in the Berenty forest, Madagascar; three hosted at the Pistoia Zoo, Italy). Since Lemur catta is characterized by rigid female dominance but show female-female coalitionary support, we expected to find reconciliation in the wild, other than in captivity. Consistently, we found the phenomenon to be present in one captive group and two wild groups, thus providing the first evidence of the presence of reconciliation in wild Lemur catta. Being this species a seasonal breeder (with mating occurring once a year), we expected that the season more than other variables (wild/captivity setting, rank, or individual features) would influence reconciliation levels. Via GLMM we found that the season was indeed the only variable significantly explaining reconciliation rates, lowest during mating and highest during the pregnancy period. We posit that reconciliation can be present in despotic species but not when the advantages of intra-group cooperation are annihilated by competition, as it occurs in seasonal breeders when reproduction is at stake. By comparing our results with literature, we conclude that in despotic social groups in which coalitions are observed, the right question is not if but when reconciliation can be present.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall William Treffy ◽  
David Collins ◽  
Natalia Hoshino ◽  
Son Ton ◽  
Gennadiy Aleksandrovich Katsevman ◽  
...  

The innervation of taste buds is an excellent model system for studying the guidance of axons during targeting because of their discrete nature and the high fidelity of innervation. The pregustatory epithelium of fungiform papillae is known to secrete diffusible axon guidance cues such as BDNF and Sema3A that attract and repel, respectively, geniculate ganglion axons during targeting, but diffusible factors alone are unlikely to explain how taste axon terminals are restricted to their territories within the taste bud. Nondiffusible cell surface proteins such as Ephs and ephrins can act as receptors and/or ligands for one another and are known to control axon terminal positioning in several parts of the nervous system, but they have not been studied in the gustatory system. We report that ephrin-B2 linked β-galactosidase staining and immunostaining was present along the dorsal epithelium of the mouse tongue as early as embryonic day 15.5 (E15.5), but was not detected at E14.5, when axons first enter the epithelium. Ephrin-B1 immunolabeling was barely detected in the epithelium and found at a somewhat higher concentration in the mesenchyme subjacent to the epithelium. EphB1 and EphB2 were detected in lingual sensory afferents in vivo and geniculate neurites in vitro. Ephrin-B1 and ephrin-B2 were similarly effective in repelling or suppressing outgrowth by geniculate neurites in vitro. These in vitro effects were independent of the neurotrophin used to promote outgrowth, but were reduced by elevated levels of laminin. In vivo, mice null for EphB1 and EphB2 exhibited decreased gustatory innervation of fungiform papillae. These data provide evidence that ephrin-B forward signaling is necessary for normal gustatory innervation of the mammalian tongue.


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