Wandering Glider: 18,000km Insect Migration Confirmed
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- Wandering glider dragonflies migrate further than any other known insect, completing a route of up to 18,000km between India and East Africa across generations, with some individuals crossing 3,500km of open Indian Ocean on high-altitude monsoon winds.
- The 4.5cm species is found on every continent except Antarctica, from sea level to more than 6,000 metres in the Himalayas, and its larvae can develop in as little as 38 days — letting females that lay up to 2,000 eggs exploit ephemeral waters and even swimming pools.
- Marine biologist Charles Anderson, based in the Maldives, proposed the migration in 2009 after observing dragonflies arriving with the October monsoons and continuing on to Seychelles and eastern Africa to breed in those monsoon rains.
- Isotope evidence in 2012 confirmed the route, and a 2016 genetic study found wandering gliders interbreed as a single global population — not separate regional populations.
- Ben Price, principal curator of entomology at London's Natural History Museum, called the discovery "a perfect reminder that the natural world is still full of discoveries" and nominated the wandering glider as the holder of the planet's greatest migration.
- Odonates — the order containing dragonflies — descend from griffin flies that evolved roughly 317 million years ago, making the wandering glider a direct descendant of some of the earliest winged insects.
Why it matters: A 4.5cm dragonfly found on every inhabited continent holds the longest documented insect migration at up to 18,000km — a discovery that only emerged this century through a Maldives-based marine biologist and later isotope (2012) and genetic (2016) confirmation. For natural history, it means even ubiquitous insects still hide continent-spanning secrets.
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