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Globe Skimmer | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Globe Skimmer

Pantala flavescens

InsectaTemporary freshwater pools, rain-filled depressions and paddy margins across the tropics and subtropicsLeast Concern

Field profile

The globe skimmer is a slender golden-yellow dragonfly with unusually broad hindwings built for gliding. It breeds in ephemeral pools that fill after rain, where the larvae develop in weeks. Its distribution is effectively global, and it turns up on remote oceanic islands with no permanent fresh water.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-01-04

Globe Skimmer

Globe skimmers form one worldwide gene pool

Populations of Pantala flavescens sampled from continents separated by whole oceans show almost no genetic structure. The species crosses open sea in such numbers, and interbreeds so freely on arrival, that geography has failed to divide it into regional lineages.

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