Pantala flavescens

Anisoptera

Species Name: Pantala flavescens
Family: Libellulidae

Pantala flavescens is certainly the world’s most widely distributed dragonfly – found worldwide in the tropics as well as in temperate zones of North America and Europe. It’s the only odonate that Borneo shares with the United Kingdom where it is found as a rare vagrant. For this reason, and because it had even been known to land on ships far out at sea, its common name is the Globe Skimmer or Wandering Glider.

The colour of the thorax and abdomen of both sexes is orangish to light brown with clear wings, the small dark area on the tip of the hindwing is distinctive. They can be seen flying almost anywhere in open country, sometimes in great numbers, they rarely perch. They breed in standing or slow moving water, so rice paddies in the tropics are particularly suitable habitats.

Male Globe Skimmer on my finger

As these insects are almost perpetually on the wing, I have not been able to take a good photo of them in nature. I was however lucky to find one on the ground – which I picked up and photographed perched on my finger.