Of the 3 types of wings described in the introduction section, only the final category is suitable for BugWing© identification. This latter category is then broken down into 3 subtypes, each of which has its own protocol.
- protocol for standard wings (veins reaching the outer margin of the wing): works with the vast diversity of transparent insect wings. It requires that nearly all of the major structural veins reach the wing edge; also that the total number of veins and cells being marked are less than or equal to about 20, even if the wing has more than 20 veins reaching the margin.
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| Fly wing |
Sawfly wing |
Book louse wing |
NOTE: we will only use forewings in this program. The process is started by defining a box around the picture of the wing. Users may use either the right or left forewing but the starting point when making the box is always at the anterior side of the wing base and the ending point diagonally opposite on the posterior side, making sure that the entire wing is enclosed within (see illustration). Each click on a vein junction thereafter records the x.y coordinates of the position of the junctions in the grid defined by making the surrounding box. The magnification of the picture at the time it was taken is NOT important. In order to control for the normal intra-specific variation in size, all of the measurements used in analysis are normalized by taking the ratios between vein lengths.
- protocol when no veins reach the distal wing margin: there are several groups of insects with wings very similar to the first category, but whose veins seldom or never reach the wing margin. Since the primary protocol is centered on the junction of the veins with the wing margin, we have to modify the protocol for this group of winged insects. This group includes primarily the bees and wasps.
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| Bee wing |
Wasp wing |
Cicada |
ACTION: We have a referenced database of all the genera of bees (Apoidea) and wasps (Sphecoidea) of North America, as well as >500 examples of Melissodes and Bombus spp. We are using these taxa (and others) as our tests of identification resolution at the genus- and species-level.
- protocol for wings with numerous veins and cells: there are 4 general groups of winged insects that have such numerous veins and cells that it is easier to choose a subset to code for the identification process. Unlike the first 2 protocols that focus more heavily on what happens to the vein structure the closer one gets to the apex of the wing, these groups are primarily analyzed by the structure at the wing base. A limiting factor with analysis of the wing structure in these groups is that the cells become much smaller as one approaches the apex of the wing, which produces more confusion in applying the identification protocol. The 4 groups of insects in this category are: Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), Plecoptera (in part, stoneflies), Ephemeroptera (mayflies), and Neuroptera (lacewings and their relatives).
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| Mayfly wing
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Dragonfly wing
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| Stonefly wing
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Lacewing wing
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ACTION: So far, we have obtained digital images of each genus in the Odonata inhabiting North America. Currently we are testing alternate protocols for coding the information for both usefulness (resolution) and easy use (lowest confusion). There are several concerns with wings of this type:
1) Wings with so many structural components are probably subject to very high levels of developmental irregularity (intra-specific variability);
2) Individual vein segments may be so small (especially at the wing margin) that they are difficult to specify correctly in any protocol;
3) We need to choose a subset of vein intersections that have great discriminatory power at BOTH the generic/family level as well as at the species-level (intra-group versus inter-group variability issues).