wing

Classification · Identification · See Also · Internet References

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

No Taxon (Glossary --use Taxonomy, then Info tabs to view entries)

No Taxon (W)

No Taxon wing

Identification

wing (wings) noun - membranaceous, reticulated (having numerous lines, like a net) instruments of flight, attached laterally to the thorax. Among invertebrates, wings are a characteristic feature of the Pterygota (winged insects), though some groups have lost them secondarily. Most members of Pterygota have two pairs (4) wings. Some orders have distinctive modifications to the wings:

Coleoptera (beetles)--forewings are hardened, called elytra

Orthoptera (grasshoppers and allies), Dermaptera (Earwigs)--forewings called tegmina

Diptera (flies)--hindwings are reduced to knobs, called halteres

Diagrams of insect wings:

wing

Jardine's Dictionary of Entomology

Wikipedia: Glossary of Lepidopteran terms (see Wings), Insect wing, Comstock-Needham system

Contributed by Cotinis on 27 May, 2007 - 11:05am
Additional contributions by Chuck Entz
Last updated 8 March, 2008 - 5:18am

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