Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Ptinella galapagana
escarabajo
Eyeless and wingless.
Fungivore; transition and humid forest zones; March–June; in leaf and wood litter. The eyeless and wingless condition of this species may be only a polymorphism, as is known in other ptiliids, and not a product of island evolution.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Coleoptera
Suborder
Polyphaga
Superfamily
Staphylinoidea
Family
Ptiliidae
Section
Ptilinini
Genus
Ptinella
Species
galapagana
Taxon category: Accepted
Origin: Endemic
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Floreana, Santa Cruz, Santiago
- Franz, H. (1985) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Koleopterenfauna der Galapagos-Inseln. Österr. Akad. Wissensch. Mathem.-naturw. Kl., Abt. I, 194(1-5): 73-124.
- Johnson, C. (1982) Ptiliidae (Coleoptera) from the Galapagos and Cocos Islands. Brenesia 19/20: 189-199.
- Peck, S.B. (1990) Eyeless arthropods of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: Composition and origin of the cryptozoic fauna of a young, tropical, oceanic archipelago. Biotropica 22(4): 366-381.
- Peck, S.B. (2006) The Beetles of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity (Insecta: Coleoptera) NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 314 pp.
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This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Ptinella galapagana", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=11318. Accessed 31 October 2026.