2022 Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Tastebuds are small individual structures found in the mouths of animals with backbones. The description and distribution of tastebuds is well documented in mammals, however less so in reptiles more specifically in lizards. The distribution of tastebuds in lizards has been documented in the tongue and lower jaw in several specimens of different lineages. The purpose of this study is to examine the upper jaws of Christinus marmoratus, an Australian gecko. This study utilized preprepared histological slides of the upper jaw of 6 specimens of Christinus marmoratus. Taste buds were found within 3 specimens a total of 7 tastebuds, with 3 having no tastebuds. Previous studies have shown the absence of tastebuds on the tongue of Gekkonid lizards, but not in other lizards. This absence may be due to the fact that geckos utilize their tongue to clean the scale covering found on their eyeballs. Geckos have been found to have many tastebuds on the lining of the lower jaw, and the absence of tastebuds on the top jaw may indicate that their sense of taste is focused in the lining of the lower jaw.