Abstract: In the structural mode recognition, the most widely used method is the modal assurance criterion (MAC), which simply shows the correlation of different modes but can not represent the details on mode shape features, especially for modal complex latticed shell structures. Mode shape characterization using Zernike moments is studied for latticed shell structures, and the mode shapes are regarded as image functions in this paper, and then transformed into Zernike moments (including amplitudes and phase angles). A finite element model of a single-layer spherical latticed shell structure is established and the numerical simulation is performed, while the results shows that the Zernike moments can reflect the features of mode shapes and recognize overlap modes, which is superior to the traditional MAC. On this basis, a new index of damage detection based on the amplitudes and phase angles of the Zernike moments is presented. Through several damage cases by changing the structural physical parameters in the latticed shell structure, different changes of the Zernike moments caused by different damage cases are detected and the Zernike moments are verified to be feasible for damage detection.