Wing Venation

[wilderness]

Can you guys and gals help me?

What are the names of the areas of the worker honeybee forewing enclosed by the wing veins? I know there is a Cubital III and discoidal cell but where/what are the others????

I'm doing a talk to our local association about wing morphometrics including Cubital Index, Discoidal shift and Hantel index. All the literature I've read assumes prior knowledge.

Many thanks.

 

[Bcrazy]

That's some talk you have been asked to give, I for one would not relish the thought of giving a talk about wing venation.

I hope this might help.
The wings of the bee are two layered extensions of the body with tubular thickening called veins. The fore wings are much larger than the hind wings and there venation is stronger, but the two wings of each side work together in flight.
When the wings are extended preparatory to flight, the fore wings are drawn over the hind wings and the hooks of the latter automatically catch the marginal fold of the former.

If you can get hold of Breeding Techniques and Selection for Breeding of the Honey bee by Friedrich Ruttner.
This book has a section on all that you’re asking for.

Another book is The Anatomy of the Honey bee by Snodgrass. It has a large chapter on wings.

Lastly have you tried this; http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/wingmeasurement.html

Regards

 

[wilderness]

Hi BCrazy,

I'll see if I can find those books. I use Dave Cushman's site as my first port of call for anything bee related. On the link you posted Dave says:

"The measuring tool is set so that the horizontal line passes through the extreme tips of the radial cell with the perpendicular passing through the junction of the "Cubital III Cell" and the "Radial Cell". The offset of point "D" is measured using the angular gradations on the tool. The particular example shown here is a positive value."

I'm guessing that Cubital I and Cubital II cells are the ones to the left of Cubital III and are adjacent to the Radial Cell. There are another 5 cells which must have names ??