Invertebrates
See our handy guide to critters found in local homes and our Central Coast Butterfly FAQ. Browse the insects and other terrestrial arthropods we’ve identified. Check out local marine invertebrates, particularly bivalve mollusks and intertidal organisms.
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Pantala hymenaea on Santa Cruz Island
Hello, I recently visited Santa Cruz Island and took a photo of what I believe to be Pantala hymenaea. I posted on iNaturalist, first with a P. falvescens ID since that's the only species of Pantala I could find listed for the island. But the wing spots are quite obvious.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/397519285
I checked DiscoverLife and iNat records with no success. I was wondering if you had collections of P. hymenaea from Santa Cruz Island at the museum. Or is this a first record?
Thanks!
Patricia Simpson
Curator Response
Hi Patricia,
Nice photo, this is certainly a Spot-winged Glider. While not as widespread as the Wandering Glider, Spot-winged Gliders are still pretty effective dispersers, and from iNat, it looks like there are also records from Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands, as well as from a boat in between Catalina and San Clemente. In our collection, the only offshore specimen we have is from San Nicolas. However, there is a specific dragonfly/damselfly focused website, Odonata Central, that often has records that are not on iNat. Looking there, there’s a record of a specimen collected in 1915 at Prisoners Harbor, and a second specimen just from “Santa Cruz Island” collected in 1938. So while not a first record, it might be the first one documented on Santa Cruz in a while!
Sincerely,
Schlinger Chair of Entomology Alex Harman, Ph.D.
