The present work studied the structure of alimentary canal of the lizard Laudakia stellio under the light and scanning electron microscope. The observations revealed that the canal consists of the oral cavity, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine. These regions consist of the following layers from outside inwards; serosa, mascularis, submucosa and mucosa. The oesophageal mucosa consists of ciliated columnar epithelium and goblet cells. The gastric mucosa is thrown into folds with brush-border cells and tubular glands are found. The small intestineal mucosa is built up of ciliated columnar epithelium, and the crypts of Lieberkhün are completely absent. The rectal mucosa is represented by columnar epithelium only. SEM examination revealed that the stomach luminal surface exhibits several convolutions of the mucosal layers forming gastric pits and tubular glands. The luminal mucosa of the intestine is composed of elevations occurred at the base of the villi. The villi possess numerous goblet cells. In the rectum, the serosa is followed by a thick muscularis and the submucosa is narrow. The mucosa is in the form of numerous shallow but deeper pits and is devoid of glands.
Key words: Alimentary canal, L. stellio, Histology, SEM
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