antemarginal

Antemarginal is a descriptive term used in biology to indicate a feature situated immediately inside or near the margin of a structure. The word comes from Latin ante- meaning "before" or "in front of" and margine meaning "margin." Because margins and edge geometry vary across organisms, the exact interpretation of antemarginal can differ with the taxonomic group and the context.

In botany, the term is used to describe structures associated with the leaf or floral organs that lie close to the edge. For example, antemarginal veins or markings may run adjacent to the leaf margin, and certain petal or sepal features may be described as antemarginal if they occur just inside the margin rather than at the edge proper.

In zoology and entomology, antemarginal is employed to describe features near the outer boundary of a structure, such as wing venation that lies close to the wing margin or other marginal elements embedded just interior to the edge.

Antemarginal is related to emarginate (notched at the edge) and to marginal (at the edge). The term is primarily a descriptive one and is not tied to a single fixed position; researchers specify the exact location within their taxa.