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

[Ola Fincke]

I for one, have always reported forewing length in damselflies,  
because that's the longer wing, making it easier to measure  
accurately in the field.
Going back through some of my papers, however, I noted that I  
mistakenly said I marked forewings (Fincke 1982) when in fact, I  
always mark individuals on the hindwing, because, as Mike pointed  
out, that's the wing that's positioned outside.

So much for consistency across workers!

Ola

Ola Fincke
Dept. of Zoology
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK 73019
Tel: 405-325-5514
Fax: 405-325-6202




On Mar 14, 2007, at 8:58 AM, Mike May wrote:

> Certainly part of the reason is tradition. Once a large body of  
> data is
> available for a particular measurement, the value of that  
> measurement for
> comparative study is enhanced. I suspect, also, that the hindwing  
> may have
> been selected originally because, when a dragonfly is held in the  
> hand with
> the wings pressed together above the back, the hindwing is positioned
> outside the forewing. Although the forces produced by fore- and  
> hindwings in
> flight are certainly somewhat different, I feel pretty confident  
> that had
> nothing to do with the decision.
>
> The forewings are nearly always slightly longer than the hindwings. My
> impression is that the proportionate difference does not vary  
> greatly with
> size, taxon or sex, but I don't know whether this has been  
> investigated
> rigorously. Females do typically have longer wings than males in  
> comparison
> to other measures of body size such as total length or thoracic mass
> (probably because abdominal mass becomes greater in mature females  
> because
> of the mass of eggs), but I don't know that the differences between  
> fore-
> and hindwings is affected by sex. Maybe Roy Beckemeyer can  
> illuminate that
> question a bit more.
>
> Mike May
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <aardila at uoguelph.ca>
> To: "Odonata-l" <odonata-l at listhost.ups.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 4:28 AM
> Subject: [Odonata-l] Why report hindwing length and not forewing  
> length
> also?
>
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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