Surface characteristics of non-migratory and migratory dragonfly wings

Superhydrophobic has become a well known topic in chemistry and material science in recent years. Superhydrophobic properties may be observed in lotus leaves and insect wings in nature. This property has been explored in order to create antimicrobial, self-cleaning, and anti-icing surfaces. Dragonflies' fore and hind wings have long been recognized to exhibit superhydrophobic characteristics. Dragonflies are classified into two categories based on their environment. The first are the species that have relatively small territories and perch frequently (non-migratory species), while the second are the dragonfly species that can travel long distances, such as over the Indian Ocean (migratory species). Previous studies showed that the migratory species of dragonflies have different wing characteristics compared to that of non-migratory species, these characteristics include wing shape, wing corrugation, and wing microtrichia. However, our understanding of how migratory and non-migratory species' wings surface structure differs, as well as how these traits contribute to their life behavior, is still limited. To study the surface structure in hindwing between non-migratory and migratory dragonfly species we used a scanning electron microscope to scan the museum specimen chosen to represent a variety of species from across the tree. The images were analyzed using ImageJ software. We quantify the nanopillars density in several areas across the wing namely base, mid, tip, leading edge, and trailing edge. Our work will lead to a better understanding of how dragonfly wing surface differs and how its work on the micro- and macro-scale.