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Sticker of Wandering pennant
Bug card No. 4621 of 4,939

Wandering pennant

Macrodiplax cora
Name means: “large and twice flat, and cora comes from the Greek word for girl”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The wandering pennant is a red dragonfly that loves the seaside. The male has a bright red tail with black marks shaped like little hourglasses. It is a great traveller that flies long distances.

Lives in
South Asia, Australia and many islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, near coasts
Length
4.5 cm (1.8 in)
Wingspan
7.5 cm (3 in)
Top speed
about 35 km/h (22 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting, so just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
It catches small flying insects in the air. Its babies live in water and hunt there.
For real!Photo of Wandering pennant
Picture by Summerdrought. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Wandering pennant about 4.5 cm long (1.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)

How wide are its wings?

Wandering pennant wings about 7.5 cm tip to tip (3 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowwings as wide as 2.5 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 11 secondsmoves 220 times its own body length every second

How big is Wandering pennant compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It can live near salty water, in coastal lagoons, river mouths and swamps.

2

It migrates and wanders far, which is how it got to so many islands.

3

Its wings are clear, with a small yellowish patch where the back wings join the body.

4

Its legs are two colours, which helps you tell it apart from other red dragonflies.

5

The female is less brightly coloured than the male.

you asked

Most asked questions about Wandering pennant

?Where does the wandering pennant live?

Near coasts in South Asia, Australia and on many islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

?How big is the wandering pennant?

The male is about 4.5 centimetres long, and its wings measure about 7.5 centimetres from tip to tip.

?Is the wandering pennant dangerous?

No. Dragonflies cannot sting.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Macrodiplax cora
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Libellulidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Coastal glider, Cora's pennant

Where the facts come from

  1. Macrodiplax cora (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Summerdrought. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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