Wings Present

Insect wings come in four basic arrangements and at this point you have already ruled out one of these. They are: no wings, two pairs of wings, one pair of wings with only the fore wings present, and one pair of wings with only the hind wings present. The only problem that may arise at this point is trying to determine the precise number of wings that are present. Beetles, for example, hide their hind wings beneath a shell-like structure, which is actually their fore wings. In other words, beetles have two pairs of wings. When looking at insects which lack a pair of wings, they will typically have vestigial structures where the missing wings should be. This structure is called a halteres. A little experience and you should not have any trouble with this part of identification.

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