Pantala flavescens
Encyclopedia
Pantala flavescens, the Globe Skimmer 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 from the subfamily Pantalinae. It was first described by Fabricius in 1798. It is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly
on the planet.
The Dragonfly is up to 4.5 cm long, reaching wing spans between 7.2 cm and 8.4 cm The front side of the head is yellowish to reddish. The thorax
is usually yellow to golden colored with a dark line and hairy. There were also specimens with brown or olive thorax. The abdomen
has a similar color as the thorax.
The wings are clear and very broad at the base. Here, too, there are some specimens with olive, brown and yellow wings. On Easter Island
there are Wandering Gliders with black wings.
The Pterostigma
turns yellowish. The transparent wings may turn a yellowish shade towards the tip. The chestnut-red eyes take up most of the head, as is usual in the large dragonflies (Anisoptera).
The above colors are certainly an explanation for the many scientific descriptions of this species under different names.
The paired side plates on the eleventh segment
of the abdomen, the so-called Paraproct, is smooth when seen from the side. The unpaired dorsal plate of the eleventh segment, called the Epiproct, is roughly the same length as or longer than the Paraproct. This distinguishes them from larvae of the genus Tramea
, where the Epiproct shorter than the Paraproct. Furthermore, the mouth parts (Palpus
) have 12–14 bristles and thus less than P. hymenaea which has 15–18 bristles.
, the longest leg section, varies; they also have longer front and shorter hind wings than the females. The island representatives, however, have the front and hind wings longer than the female, and the femur is the same for both sexes. There are other differences between mainland and island specimens, particularly in terms of coloring. Island representatives are generally darker.
, the "Spot-winged Glider," but this has a striking brown basal fleck in the hindwing and is generally slightly darker in color. It might be taken for a member of the genus Tramea
but these usually have a distinctive stripe on their hind wings.
_mating_w_img_2999.jpg)
As is usual in the Libellulidae
family, there is no distinct courtship ritual. The females may pair many times, but usually only once a day.
After mating, the migrant dragonflies fly in tandem, with the female ovipositing
while the male remains connected. This species sometimes selects unsuitable places like freshly washed cars. A clutch
consists of about 500 to 2000 eggs. The eggs spheroid
in shape with the semi-major axis
0.5 mm and 0.4 mm at the smallest points.
The larvae develop within 38 to 65 days, which allows this migrant dragonfly to reproduce in temporary waters or even in swimming pools. However, the larvae seem to be very sensitive to temperature. The life expectancy is not known and because of their high mobility it is almost impossible to determine.
e of the Globe Skimmer, like all dragonflies, are predatory. It forages very actively and eats fairly indiscriminately all sorts of aquatic invertebrate
s such as aquatic insect
larvae and small shrimps (Peracarida
). Even tadpole
s and small fish are used for food. The imago
eats mostly small insects such as mosquitoes swarm
ing flying ants and termites.
Their flight speed is up to 5 m / s. Especially in the autumn, the Wandering Glider flies in large swarm
s, using thermals to advantage. One report even speaks of a "cloud" covering 34 km2. They prefer moist winds. In normal flight, island populations keep to 2.5 meters above the ground on and stop flying in thermal updraughts. The continental populations, fly at altitudes of three to four meters and do not stop flying even in bad weather. Those on Easter Island
have adapted away from their migratory habits because to fly out to the open sea would usually mean certain death.
When landing, it seeks a vertical attitude. Like all large dragonflies, the wings are held out from the body at rest.
The Globe Skimmer, as its name suggests, has a very wide distribution area, between about the 40th parallels of latitude
or within the 20 °C isotherm (areas of the world where the annual mean temperature is above 20 degrees Celsius
). In Europe there are only occasional sightings of the species, with serious evidence to date mainly from the Aegean Sea
and the adjacent mainland. All Globe Skimmer records from England or France are of extremely doubtful value and may arise from co-importation with shipments of bananas. An explanation for the scarcity in Europe of this otherwise common species is the barrier effect of the Sahara
which generates unfavourable winds, such as the Sirocco
, whose dryness makes dragonfly passage almost impossible.
Their arrival in the subtropics
and tropics
coincides with the Intertropical Convergence Zone
. More evidence of their preference for moist winds, is that the dragonfly migrates to Southeast India's Tamil Nadu
only after the second monsoon which is brings the rain to that region. In the rest of India, however, it arrives with the first rain-making monsoon. Observations suggest that they migrate from India to Africa across the Arabian Sea.
It is the highest-flying dragonfly, recorded at in the Himalayas
. It was also first dragonfly species that settled on Bikini Atoll
after the nuclear tests there. Furthermore, it is the only Odonata
on Easter Island
. These individuals seem to be a small gene pool, derived from the continental populations, which is slowly creating a new type by genetic drift
. In colder areas like South Australia and Northern Canada, the species cannot overwinter and must therefore be replaced by new migrants each year.
name Wanderlibelle mean "migrant dragonfly". In Hong Kong
, its name translates as Typhoon
Dragonfly as it arrives with or shortly before the seasonal rain. The Japanese
name is which is translated as "yellow dragonfly with delicate wings."
name Pantala means "all wings," alluding to the big and long wings. The specific name comes from the Latin flavescens, meaning "yellowish," and refers to its distinctive golden tint.
The species was first described in 1798 as Libellula flavescens by Fabricius as follows:
The first description of this underlying holotype
is in the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen University taken from a female collected from India. In following years there appeared more descriptions with different names. In 1805, Palisot de Beauvois
designated a specimen from Nigeria
as Libellula viridula. Around 1823 the British entomologist Dale
, in an unpublished manuscript, described an allegedly Norfolk
-trapped male as Libellula sparing halli, It is now in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
. In 1839, the German entomologist Burmeister
named a male collected in Madras as Libellula analis (now in the Zoological Collection of the University of Halle-Wittenberg) and another male from Brazil
as Libellula terminalis (now in the Natural History Museum of Vienna.) In 1910, the field was cleared as Richard Anthony Muttkowski recognized that these species were all synonyms
. A description was made of Sympetrum tandicola (Singh) 1955 from a male collected in the Himalayas
. It remains in Zoology Survey India, Calcutta, and was not recognised as a synonym for Pantala flavescens until 1973 by Tridib Ranjan Mitra.
Pantala. This in the only genus in the subfamily Pantalinae of the family
Libellulidae
. P. hymenaea is restricted to the Americas
.
In cladistics
the genus Pantala is also placed in the subfamily Pantalinae. There is no up-to-date investigation of the subfamilies of the Libellulidae which would permit a dichotomous
representation of the phylogeny. From the current state of research, the Pantalinae cannot clearly be allocated to a subfamily rather than a sister group
.
On 29 July 1974 Wallis and Futuna
published a 45 Franc
with a dragonfly over a water surface with some plants showing. It has Michel catalog
number 257 appearing in a set of insect motifs. On 1975 The Pitcairn Islands
published a 15 Cent
with a dragonfly flying ona dark blue background. Its Miche number is 154, and it also appeared in an insect collection.
Tuvalu
brought out a 10 Cent on 1983 which shows a Globe Skimmer. The lithographic illustration was designed by J E Cooter. Its Michel number is 190, and it appeared in a set of dragonflies. The representation was limited to the dragonfly with grasses. Botswana
published a six-Thebe
stamp showing the front of a blue dragonfly on a green background.
Wallis and Futuna
published another stamp on 1998, a 36F with the dragonfly shown flying on a yellowish background. It has Michel number 736 and appeared together with other insect motifs.
The latest stamp comes from 2003 and appeared in North Korea
. Its value is 15 wŏn
and it represents a sedentary Globe Skimmer on a spike.
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
of the family Libellulidae
Libellulidae
The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Even if these are excluded , there still remains a...
. This species and Pantala hymenaea
Pantala hymenaea
The Spot-winged Glider is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae.It looks very much like the Wandering Glider with the addition of a basal spot on the hindwing....
, the "Spot-winged Glider", are the only members of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Pantala from the subfamily Pantalinae. It was first described by Fabricius in 1798. It is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
on the planet.
Structure of the adult
Thorax
The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.-In tetrapods:...
is usually yellow to golden colored with a dark line and hairy. There were also specimens with brown or olive thorax. The abdomen
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...
has a similar color as the thorax.
The wings are clear and very broad at the base. Here, too, there are some specimens with olive, brown and yellow wings. On Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
there are Wandering Gliders with black wings.
The Pterostigma
Pterostigma
The pterostigma is a cell in the outer wing of insects which is often thickened or coloured and so stands out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in other insect groups, such as snakeflies, hymenopterans and megalopterans.The purpose of the pterostigma,...
turns yellowish. The transparent wings may turn a yellowish shade towards the tip. The chestnut-red eyes take up most of the head, as is usual in the large dragonflies (Anisoptera).
The above colors are certainly an explanation for the many scientific descriptions of this species under different names.
Structure of the larva
The larva between 24 and 26 mm long. It is light green with light, brown speckles. The round eyes are sideways on the bottom of the head, the abdomen and the tail blunt.The paired side plates on the eleventh segment
Segmentation (biology)
Segmentation in biology refers to either a type of gastrointestinal motility or the division of some animal and plant body plans into a series of repetitive segments. This article will focus on the segmentation of animal body plans, specifically using the examples of the phyla Arthropoda,...
of the abdomen, the so-called Paraproct, is smooth when seen from the side. The unpaired dorsal plate of the eleventh segment, called the Epiproct, is roughly the same length as or longer than the Paraproct. This distinguishes them from larvae of the genus Tramea
Tramea
Tramea is a dragonfly genus in the family of skimmer and percher dragonflies . They typically have colored bases to their otherwise translucent hindwings...
, where the Epiproct shorter than the Paraproct. Furthermore, the mouth parts (Palpus
Insect mouthparts
Insects exhibit a range of mouthparts, adapted to particular modes of feeding. The earliest insects had chewing mouthparts...
) have 12–14 bristles and thus less than P. hymenaea which has 15–18 bristles.
Dimorphism
Females show some differences compared with males. The general rule is that the wings of the male are darker than on the females. In mainland males, the length of the femurArthropod leg
The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus, ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus ,...
, the longest leg section, varies; they also have longer front and shorter hind wings than the females. The island representatives, however, have the front and hind wings longer than the female, and the femur is the same for both sexes. There are other differences between mainland and island specimens, particularly in terms of coloring. Island representatives are generally darker.
Similar species
Pantala flavescens may be confused with the P hymenaeaPantala hymenaea
The Spot-winged Glider is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae.It looks very much like the Wandering Glider with the addition of a basal spot on the hindwing....
, the "Spot-winged Glider," but this has a striking brown basal fleck in the hindwing and is generally slightly darker in color. It might be taken for a member of the genus Tramea
Tramea
Tramea is a dragonfly genus in the family of skimmer and percher dragonflies . They typically have colored bases to their otherwise translucent hindwings...
but these usually have a distinctive stripe on their hind wings.
Reproduction and development
Libellulidae
The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Even if these are excluded , there still remains a...
family, there is no distinct courtship ritual. The females may pair many times, but usually only once a day.
After mating, the migrant dragonflies fly in tandem, with the female ovipositing
Oviposition
Oviposition is the process of laying eggs by oviparous animals.Some arthropods, for example, lay their eggs with an organ called the ovipositor.Fish , amphibians, reptiles, birds and monetremata also lay eggs....
while the male remains connected. This species sometimes selects unsuitable places like freshly washed cars. A clutch
Clutch (eggs)
A clutch of eggs refers to all the eggs produced by birds or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest.In birds, destruction of a clutch by predators, , results in double-clutching...
consists of about 500 to 2000 eggs. The eggs spheroid
Spheroid
A spheroid, or ellipsoid of revolution is a quadric surface obtained by rotating an ellipse about one of its principal axes; in other words, an ellipsoid with two equal semi-diameters....
in shape with the semi-major axis
Semi-major axis
The major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter, a line that runs through the centre and both foci, its ends being at the widest points of the shape...
0.5 mm and 0.4 mm at the smallest points.
The larvae develop within 38 to 65 days, which allows this migrant dragonfly to reproduce in temporary waters or even in swimming pools. However, the larvae seem to be very sensitive to temperature. The life expectancy is not known and because of their high mobility it is almost impossible to determine.
Food
The larvaLarva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of the Globe Skimmer, like all dragonflies, are predatory. It forages very actively and eats fairly indiscriminately all sorts of aquatic invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s such as aquatic insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
larvae and small shrimps (Peracarida
Peracarida
The superorder Peracarida is a large group of malacostracan crustaceans, having members in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. They are chiefly defined by the presence of a brood pouch, or marsupium, formed from thin flattened plates borne on the basalmost segments of the legs Other...
). Even tadpole
Tadpole
A tadpole or polliwog is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad.- Appellation :...
s and small fish are used for food. The imago
Imago
In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis, or after emergence from the pupa where the metamorphosis is complete...
eats mostly small insects such as mosquitoes swarm
Swarm
Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by animals of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction. As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to...
ing flying ants and termites.
Flight behavior
Swarm
Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by animals of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction. As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to...
s, using thermals to advantage. One report even speaks of a "cloud" covering 34 km2. They prefer moist winds. In normal flight, island populations keep to 2.5 meters above the ground on and stop flying in thermal updraughts. The continental populations, fly at altitudes of three to four meters and do not stop flying even in bad weather. Those on Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
have adapted away from their migratory habits because to fly out to the open sea would usually mean certain death.
When landing, it seeks a vertical attitude. Like all large dragonflies, the wings are held out from the body at rest.
Distribution and flight
Circle of latitude
A circle of latitude, on the Earth, is an imaginary east-west circle connecting all locations that share a given latitude...
or within the 20 °C isotherm (areas of the world where the annual mean temperature is above 20 degrees Celsius
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
). In Europe there are only occasional sightings of the species, with serious evidence to date mainly from the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
and the adjacent mainland. All Globe Skimmer records from England or France are of extremely doubtful value and may arise from co-importation with shipments of bananas. An explanation for the scarcity in Europe of this otherwise common species is the barrier effect of the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
which generates unfavourable winds, such as the Sirocco
Sirocco
Sirocco, scirocco, , jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe. It is known in North Africa by the Arabic word qibli or ghibli Sirocco, scirocco, , jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind...
, whose dryness makes dragonfly passage almost impossible.
Their arrival in the subtropics
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
and tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
coincides with the Intertropical Convergence Zone
Intertropical Convergence Zone
The Intertropical Convergence Zone , known by sailors as The Doldrums, is the area encircling the earth near the equator where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres come together....
. More evidence of their preference for moist winds, is that the dragonfly migrates to Southeast India's Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
only after the second monsoon which is brings the rain to that region. In the rest of India, however, it arrives with the first rain-making monsoon. Observations suggest that they migrate from India to Africa across the Arabian Sea.
It is the highest-flying dragonfly, recorded at in the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. It was also first dragonfly species that settled on Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
after the nuclear tests there. Furthermore, it is the only Odonata
Odonata
Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
on Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. These individuals seem to be a small gene pool, derived from the continental populations, which is slowly creating a new type by genetic drift
Genetic drift
Genetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.The alleles in the offspring are a sample of those in the parents, and chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces...
. In colder areas like South Australia and Northern Canada, the species cannot overwinter and must therefore be replaced by new migrants each year.
Common name
The English common names "Wandering Glider" and "Globe Skimmer" refer to its migratory behaviour. The GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
name Wanderlibelle mean "migrant dragonfly". In Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, its name translates as Typhoon
Pacific typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean between 180° and 100°E. This region is referred to as the northwest Pacific basin. For organizational purposes, the northern Pacific Ocean is divided into three regions: the eastern , central , and...
Dragonfly as it arrives with or shortly before the seasonal rain. The Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
name is which is translated as "yellow dragonfly with delicate wings."
Scientific name
In the scientific name Pantala flavescens, the genusGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
name Pantala means "all wings," alluding to the big and long wings. The specific name comes from the Latin flavescens, meaning "yellowish," and refers to its distinctive golden tint.
The species was first described in 1798 as Libellula flavescens by Fabricius as follows:
The first description of this underlying holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
is in the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen University taken from a female collected from India. In following years there appeared more descriptions with different names. In 1805, Palisot de Beauvois
Palisot de Beauvois
Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois 27 July 1752 Arras - 21 January 1820 Paris, was a French naturalist.Palisot collected insects in Oware, Benin, Saint Domingue, and the United States, during the period 1786 – 1797. Trained as a botanist, Palisot published a significant...
designated a specimen from Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
as Libellula viridula. Around 1823 the British entomologist Dale
James Charles Dale
James Charles Dale was a wealthy English naturalist who devoted almost all of his adult life to entomology.James Dale was the son of wealthy landowners. He received his education at Cambridge University receiving his MA in 1818...
, in an unpublished manuscript, described an allegedly Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
-trapped male as Libellula sparing halli, It is now in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the...
. In 1839, the German entomologist Burmeister
Hermann Burmeister
Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister was a German zoologist, entomologist, and herpetologist.Burmeister was born in Stralsund and became a professor of Zoology at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1837 to 1861...
named a male collected in Madras as Libellula analis (now in the Zoological Collection of the University of Halle-Wittenberg) and another male from Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
as Libellula terminalis (now in the Natural History Museum of Vienna.) In 1910, the field was cleared as Richard Anthony Muttkowski recognized that these species were all synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
. A description was made of Sympetrum tandicola (Singh) 1955 from a male collected in the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. It remains in Zoology Survey India, Calcutta, and was not recognised as a synonym for Pantala flavescens until 1973 by Tridib Ranjan Mitra.
Classification
Pantala flavescens and Pantala hymenaea, the Spot-winged Glider, are the only members of the genusGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Pantala. This in the only genus in the subfamily Pantalinae of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Libellulidae
Libellulidae
The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Even if these are excluded , there still remains a...
. P. hymenaea is restricted to the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
.
In cladistics
Cladistics
Cladistics is a method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants . For example, birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor form a clade...
the genus Pantala is also placed in the subfamily Pantalinae. There is no up-to-date investigation of the subfamilies of the Libellulidae which would permit a dichotomous
Dichotomy
A dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning it is a procedure in which a whole is divided into two parts...
representation of the phylogeny. From the current state of research, the Pantalinae cannot clearly be allocated to a subfamily rather than a sister group
Cladistics
Cladistics is a method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants . For example, birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor form a clade...
.
Protection status
The Globe Skimmer has NatureServe conservation status G5, meaning it is secure (common, widespread and abundant) worldwide. This status was awarded on 1985. In the USA, it has the national equivalent protection status N5. In Canada, however, it is lower with N4 meaning it is apparently secure – uncommon but not rare but with some cause for long-term concern. Even at this level, it is granted protected status in many states of the US and Canada.Postage stamps
Due to its wide distribution, the Globe Skimmer appears on a number of stamps.On 29 July 1974 Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands , is a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest, Rotuma of Fiji to the west, the main part of Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast,...
published a 45 Franc
Franc
The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...
with a dragonfly over a water surface with some plants showing. It has Michel catalog
Michel catalog
The Michel catalog is the largest and best-known stamp catalog in the German-speaking world. First published in 1910, it has become an important reference work for philately, with information not available in the English-language Scott catalog.The catalog started out as a price list for the dealer...
number 257 appearing in a set of insect motifs. On 1975 The Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands , officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Pacific...
published a 15 Cent
Cent (currency)
In many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....
with a dragonfly flying ona dark blue background. Its Miche number is 154, and it also appeared in an insect collection.
Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
brought out a 10 Cent on 1983 which shows a Globe Skimmer. The lithographic illustration was designed by J E Cooter. Its Michel number is 190, and it appeared in a set of dragonflies. The representation was limited to the dragonfly with grasses. Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
published a six-Thebe
Botswana pula
The pula is the currency of Botswana. It has the ISO 4217 code BWP and is subdivided into 100 thebe. Pula literally means "rain" in Setswana, because rain is very scarce in Botswana - home to much of the Kalahari Desert - and therefore valuable. Pula also means "blessing" as rain is considered a...
stamp showing the front of a blue dragonfly on a green background.
Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands , is a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest, Rotuma of Fiji to the west, the main part of Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast,...
published another stamp on 1998, a 36F with the dragonfly shown flying on a yellowish background. It has Michel number 736 and appeared together with other insect motifs.
The latest stamp comes from 2003 and appeared in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
. Its value is 15 wŏn
North Korean won
The won is the currency of North Korea . It is subdivided into 100 chon. The won is issued by the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
and it represents a sedentary Globe Skimmer on a spike.