Wing Images of Australian Odonata

Occurrence
Latest version published on 16 July 2020
Publication date:
16 July 2020
Published by:
No organisation
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 636 records in English (60 KB) - Update frequency: not planned
Metadata as an EML file download in English (16 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (15 KB)

Description

Photographic library of wings of Australian Odonata

This resource is an index to photographs of male and female wings of 207 species of dragonfly and 111 species of damselfly found in Australia. Each image shows a pair of right wings, a scale, an identifying taxonomic name and gender.

These high-resolution images were made by John Tann at the Australian Museum using identified collection material from that museum and other Australian collections. Equipment and method used to create the images are detailed in Tann (2020).

The index has links to the wing image of each specimen and to an image of the original museum specimen.

Tann, John. 2020. Wing images of Australian Odonata. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum XXXX

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 636 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Occurrence (core)
636
Multimedia 
636

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Tann J (2020): Wing Images of Australian Odonata. v1.4. No organisation. Dataset/Occurrence. https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=odonata_wings&v=1.4

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has not been registered with GBIF

Keywords

Occurrence; Specimen

External data

The resource data is also available in other formats

Wings of Australian Odonata - Volume 1. Anisoptera https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.11845230 UTF-8 JPEG
Wings of Australian Odonata - Volume 2. Zygoptera https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12579959 UTF-8 JPEG
Wings of Australian Odonata - Volume 3. Anisoptera fixed scale https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12612038 UTF-8 JPEG
Wings of Australian Odonata - Volume 4. Zygoptera fixed scale https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12612041 UTF-8 JPEG

Contacts

John Tann
  • Metadata Provider
  • Author
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
Research Associate
Australian Museum Research Associate
1 William Street
2010 Sydney
New South Wales
AU

Geographic Coverage

Australia

Bounding Coordinates South West [-44.84, 110.742], North East [-9.449, 158.203]

Taxonomic Coverage

These images are of dragonflies and damselflies found in Australia

Order Odonata (Dragonfly)
Suborder Anisoptera (Dragonflies), Zygoptera (Damselflies)

Project Data

This project has created an openly accessible, high-resolution, photographic library of wings of Australian dragonflies and damselflies, order Odonata.

Title Wing Images of Australian Odonata
Study Area Description Both male and female wings of 318 species of Odonata found in Australia have been photographed.
Design Description Wings have been photographed with a specialist set-up using identified museum collection material. In general, both wings were removed from the insect body to produce an image with a minimum of visual artefacts. Each resulting image shows a pair of right wings, a scale, an identifying taxonomic name and gender. Equipment and method used to create the images are detailed in Tann, John. 2020. Wing images of Australian Odonata. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

In order to create good quality images, wings were removed from most specimens so they could be photographed without artefacts. Dragonflies and damselflies in paper envelopes were preferred to pinned specimens as they were generally cleaner, easier to work with, and required no reconstruction after photographing. Technique A specimen in poor condition, with good wings was selected. Many dragonfly and damselfly specimens in collections have broken bodies, separated abdomens or heads. Working with already-damaged material reduced the impact of this destructive technique. All specimens were registered, with few exceptions, and identification of each specimen was critical. Only one specimen at a time was processed before being returned to its drawer to avoid a mix-up. A whole-of-body photograph of the original specimen with all labels was made before further work, for reference and quality control. Both right wings were surgically removed. Occasionally, due to availability, left wings were used and their images artificially flipped. Both wings were photographed independently using a good quality camera and customised rig. Wings and bodies were returned to their paper envelope. Where pinned specimens were used, the wings were attached to paper points and re-pinned. Occasionally wings were photographed while still attached to the insect body. This was a sub-optimal method, used for rare and special specimens.

Study Extent Specimens of Odoanata held in the Australian and other collections in Australia
Quality Control To ensure final wing images maintained their correct identification, the taxonomic name, according to the Australian Faunal Directory, and gender, male or female, were added to the lower right corner of each image. A whole-of-body photograph of the reference specimen with its registration number is available in this resource.

Method step description:

  1. For details of equipment and method used to create these images see Tann, John. 2020. Wing images of Australian Odonata. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum

Collection Data

Collection Name Australian Museum Entomology Collection
Parent Collection Identifier urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:34688
Collection Name Queensland Museum Entomology
Collection Identifier http://grbio.org/institutional-collection/entomology-4
Parent Collection Identifier urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:35019
Collection Name Western Australian Museum
Parent Collection Identifier urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:34981
Collection Name Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Entomology Collection
Collection Name Australian National Insect Collection
Specimen preservation methods Pinned,  Other
Curatorial Units Count 318 +/- 1 Species ,  Count 615 +/- 1 Specimens

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Tann, John (2020): Wings of Australian Odonata - Index. figshare. Dataset. 10.6084/m9.figshare.11840013

Additional Metadata

All images are publicly accessible: 1. On figshare, where images can be viewed individually or downloaded as a series 2. On Flickr, where each wing image is accompanied by its individual caption, other metadata such as specimen location on a map, and a link to collection data. Dragonfly wings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/31031835@N08/albums/72157684642873975 Damselfly wings. https://www.flickr.com/photos/31031835@N08/albums/72157684003991555 3. On Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia in turn displays wing images on the content page of each Australian dragonfly and damselfly.

Purpose This project has created an openly accessible, high-resolution, photographic library of wings of Australian dragonflies and damselflies, order Odonata. The library is an open resource for identification and research.
Alternative Identifiers https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=odonata_wings