Globe skimmer
The globe skimmer is a golden yellow dragonfly with big red brown eyes and clear wings. It is the most widespread dragonfly on Earth. It is a champion traveller and can glide for hours without ever landing.
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Fun facts
Every year, globe skimmers make a giant trip of about 18,000 km, one of the longest journeys of any insect. It takes several generations to finish it.
One single dragonfly can fly more than 6,000 km on this trip.
Its babies grow up in only about 38 to 65 days, so it can even use puddles and swimming pools.
In autumn it can fly in huge swarms. One swarm was like a cloud covering 34 square kilometres.
A mother can lay 500 to 2,000 eggs at once.
Most asked questions about Globe skimmer
?Where does the globe skimmer live?
In warm places on every continent except Antarctica. It is the most widespread dragonfly in the world.
?How far can a globe skimmer fly?
One dragonfly can fly more than 6,000 km, and the whole yearly trip over several generations is about 18,000 km.
?What does the globe skimmer eat?
Small flying insects such as mosquitoes, flying ants and termites.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pantala flavescens
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1798
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Libellulidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania, Europe
- Also known as
- Globe wanderer, Wandering glider
Where the facts come from
- Pantala flavescens (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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