A Study on Allometry of Wing Shape and Venation in Insects. Part 1. Hymenoptera

Abstract

Allometry of wing shape is very common among insects, since wing-air interaction and aerodynamics of flight are largely depend on body size. In the present work we have studied allometry of wing shape and venation on wide range of representatives of Hymenoptera. It has been shown that by increase in body size, the aspect ratio of forewings grows, and the center of the area shifts towards the base; similar parameters of hindwings do not correlate with size of the insects. Geometric morphometric methods permitted to reveal allometric tendencies in arrangement of wing vein elements common for the hymenopterans studied. At increase of body size, the cells of central region of forewings stretch in longitudinal direction, the cells of distal and proximal regions reduce in length. In the case of hindwings, most families with increase in body size show elongation of the cells in proximal zone and shortening of the cells in distal zone.