Circa 200 species of dragonfly and damselfly have been recorded in and around south India’s wetlands.
Some of them are permanently resident, but one dragonfly species is very probably the insect world’s greatest traveller.
Pantala flavescens – commonly/appropriately known as “the globe skimmer”, or “wandering glider” – undertakes nonstop, ocean-crossing flights to-from India and Africa.
Evidence is mounting that this species’ population (which exists on every continent, bar Antarctica) ought be considered as not merely “widespread”, but as a single, “global” population.
Discover its amazing, still-evolving story here.
All the above said, this post’s male dragonfly is not the aforementioned globetrotter.
I think that it is Brachythemis contaminata, the ditch jewel, which is very widespread in south India.
Ditch jewels are at least somewhat true to their scientific name; they seem to be drawn to contaminated, stagnant water.
Photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at 8.26 am on 21 February 2023, in flood-irrigated land, adjacent to Vembanad Lake, Kerala.
For an amateur photographer with no special “macro” gear, nor any particular insect-shooting expertise, south India’s rich insect life offers great – and approximately equal – measures of delight, challenge and frustration.