The morphology of the intestine of the insectivorous horseshoe bat {Rhinolophus hildebrandti, Peters): a scanning electron and light microscopic study

Abstract

The gastrointestinal tract of the horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus hildebrandti (Peters), was studied macroscopically, with the light microscope and with the scanning electron microscope. Macroscopically, the stomach was of the simple type and the intestine was a short convoluted tube with an almost uniform diameter. A caecum, an appendix and a colon were absent, and the only portion of the large intestine observed was a short rectum which had a distinctly greater diameter than the rest of the intestine. The proximal part of the intestine showed a brief ‘honeycomb’ segment preceding the ridge-like transverse villi that occupied the rest of the foregut. In the region immediately proximal to the rectum the villi joined in a geometrical pattern to form chambers resembling ‘reticular cells’ of the ruminant stomach. The villi were covered with a prominent columnar epithelium occasionally interrupted by goblet cells. Generally, the intestine of Rhinolophus resembles that of the other bats which have been studied, but showed structural details suggestive of an increased surface area