Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Drosophila cardini Sturtevant, 1916

Mosca de la fruta, Fruit fly

Adults of this species were recently reared from passionfruit in the Scalesia zone (Los Gemelos), oranges in the littoral zone, and from freshly collected Galápagos tomatoes in the highlands on Santa Cruz (Lehnen et al. unpubl.) (Sinclair 2023).

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Arthropoda

Class
Insecta

Order
Diptera

Suborder
Brachycera

Family
Drosophilidae

Genus
Drosophila

Species
cardini

Taxon category: Accepted

It belongs to the Drosophila cardini species group

Origin: Introduced - established

Introduction

Year of first record: 2020

Mode of introduction: Accidental

Introduction Pathway: Contaminant

Subpathway: Food contaminant

Introduced status: Naturalized

Invasive status: No data

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: Santa Cruz

References

  • Sinclair, B. J. (2023) An annotated checklist of the Diptera of the Galápagos Archipelago (Ecuador). Zootaxa, 5283, 1-102
  • Sturtevant, A. (1916) Notes on North American Drosophilidae with description of twenty-three new species Sturtevant, A. H. 1916. Notes on North American Drosophilidae with description of twenty-three new species. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 9: 323-343
  • Vilela, C.R. Silva, A., Sene, F. (2002) Preliminary data on the geographical distribution of Drosophila species within morphoclimatic domains of Brazil. III. The cardini group Vilela, C. R., Silva, A. F. G. D., & Sene, F. D. M. (2002). Preliminary data on the geographical distribution of Drosophila species within morphoclimatic domains of Brazil. III. The cardini group. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 46(2), 139-148.

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 cardini", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=18797. Accessed 9 June 2026.