[Odonata-l] Why report hindwing length and not forewing length also?

[aardila@uoguelph.ca]

Hello everyone,

I have the books "Dragonflies of North America"(Needham, Westfall ,and  
May, 2000) and "Damselflies of North America" (Westfall and May,  
1996). These books are excellent. They report the body size lenght,  
abdomen lenght, and hindwing length for every Odonata species in North  
America.

However, I don't understand why the size of the forewings is not  
reported. Is this by convention? What is the history behind this? Why  
were the hindwings and not the forewings chosen? Is there a  
statistically and biologically insignificant difference between the  
forewings and the hindwings within species (and sex) in Odonates? Is  
this selection based on the role of the hindwings in flight? I would  
appreciate any guidance that could help me find an  answer to these  
questions. Thank you.

Alex

-- 
Alex Ardila-Garcia
MSc Candidate
Genomic Diversity Lab
Dept. Integrative Biology
University of Guelph
Guelph (On), Canada