Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Drosophila melanogaster
Mosca de la fruta, Fruit fly
Lowland regions (Carson et al. 1983).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Diptera
Suborder
Brachycera
Family
Drosophilidae
Genus
Drosophila
Species
melanogaster
Taxon category: Accepted
Origin: Introduced - established
Year of first record: 1977
Mode of introduction: Accidental
Introduction Pathway: Contaminant
Subpathway: Food contaminant
Introduced status: Naturalized
Invasive status: Unlikely to become invasive
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Cosmopolitan; Santa Cruz.
- Carson, H.L. Val, F.C. & Wheeler, M.R. (1983) Drosophilidae of the Galápagos Islands, with Descriptions of two new Species. Internatl. J. Entomol. 25(4): 239-248.
- Peck, S.B. Heraty, J., Landry, B. & Sinclair, B.J. (1998) Introduced insect fauna of an oceanic archipelago: The Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Am. Entomol. 44: 218-237.
- Sinclair, B. J. (2023) An annotated checklist of the Diptera of the Galápagos Archipelago (Ecuador). Zootaxa, 5283, 1-102
- Sinclair, B.J. Peck, S.B. (2005) An annotated checklist of the Diptera of the Galápagos Archipelago (Ecuador). Charles Darwin Research Station, unpublished, 64 pp.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Drosophila melanogaster", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=12338. Accessed 2 November 2026.