back, belonging to the back, facing the back, lying at the back

The dorsal (from Latin dorsum 'back') surface, (also dorsum) of an organism or organ, refers to the back, or upper side, such as in the human, the dorsum of the tongue, the dorsum of the hand, and the dorsum of the foot. If talking about the skull, the dorsal side is the top.

In a beetles, the dorsal is on the upper surface.