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Morphology of Odonata

General

Abbreviations and morphological synonyms

Synopsis

  • For naming wing veins we adopt a simplified version of the much-used Tillyard-Fraser terminology, abbreviating only the medial and radial supplements (Mspl, Rspl), the multiple branches of the radius (R1-4; IR2-3) and the antenodal, cubital and postnodal cross-veins (Ax, Cux, Px).
  • Ax, Cux, Px and abdominal segments are all numbered from the base, e.g. Ax2 is the second antenodal cross-vein from the base and S8-10 represents the eighth, ninth and tenth (thus the terminal three) abdominal segments.

Abreviations

  • Abd: abdomen
  • Antehumerals: antehumeral stripes
  • Ax: antenodal cross-vein(s)
  • Cerci = superior appendages
  • Cux: cubital cross-vein(s) = Ac, anal crossing
  • Epiproct = inferior appendage (Anisoptera)
  • Fw: forewing(s)
  • Hamule = posterior hamule (Macromiidae, Libellulidae)
  • Humerals: humeral stripes
  • Hw: hindwing(s)
  • Paraprocts = inferior appendages (Zygoptera)
  • Pt: pterostigma(s)
  • Px: postnodal cross-vein(s)
  • S: abdominal segment(s)
  • Thorax = synthorax

Damselfly (Zygoptera)

Damselfly 

Dragonfly (Anisoptera)

Dragonfly 

Wing vein nomenclature

  • The layout of the fore- (Fw) and hindwings (Hw) is similar.
  • To indicate this and the degree of variation of various structures, we provided annotated pairs of wings from the two most disparate Anisopteran families.
  • Annotations in brackets show how wing characters must be read, e.g. how many cells (c), cell-rows (r) or cross-veins (x) there are in a particular field.
  • The part of the wing between the base and node is called ‘antenodal’, that between the node and pterostigma (Pt) ‘postnodal’.
  • Most antenodal cross-veins (Ax) have a section anterior (‘costal’) and posterior (‘subcostal’) of the subcosta; postnodal cross-veins (Px) only have the costal sections.

 Wings

Indicating relative positions

  • Rostral, dorsal, lateral, ventral and caudal refer to views or positions on or towards the face, upperside (dorsum = back), sides, underside (venter = belly) and tail-end respectively.
  • Anterior and posterior indicate relative positions towards the front end (head) and back end (abdomen) of the insect
  • Proximal and distal refer to positions towards and away from the body, basal and apical to positions at the base or tip of a structure (e.g. segment or wing), and subbasal and subapical to positions near the base or tip.
  • Medial is used for positions in-between extremes, e.g. roughly halfway between basal and apical.

Larvae

Damselfly (a Dragonfly (b)

Larvae 

Credit African Dragonflies & Damselflies Online