Pantala flavescens

Pantala flavescens
male, Kerala, India
female, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Family: Libellulidae
Genus: Pantala
Species:
P. flavescens
Binomial name
Pantala flavescens
(Fabricius, 1798)
Distribution of Pantala flavescens
Synonyms
  • Libellula analis Burmeister, 1839
  • Libellula flavescens Fabricius, 1798
  • Libellula terminalis Burmeister, 1839
  • Libellula viridula Palisot de Beauvois, 1807
  • Orthetrum mathewi Singh & Baijal, 1955
  • Sympetrum tandicola Singh, 1955

Pantala flavescens, the globe skimmer, globe wanderer or wandering glider, is a wide-ranging dragonfly of the family Libellulidae. This species and Pantala hymenaea, the "spot-winged glider", are the only members of the genus Pantala. It was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798. It is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet, with good population on every continent except Antarctica, although rare in Europe. Globe skimmers make an annual multigenerational journey of some 18,000 km (about 11,200 miles); to complete the migration, individual globe skimmers fly more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles)—one of the farthest known migrations of all insect species.