Galapagos Species Database

Galaporchestia vaggala (Bowman 1977) is a very interesting taxon in that it has many morphological characteristics in common with the marsh-hopper Chelorchestia Bousfield, 1984 and was placed in that genus by Bousfield (1984). But G. vaggala is a terrestrial forest-hopper with palmate lobes on the merus and carpus of gnathopod 1 (merus, carpus and propodus in Chelorchestia), with a subchelate gnathopod 2 (chelate in Chelorchestia) and of course the geography is difficult. Galaporchestia is endemic to the Galapagos Island whereas Chelorchestia is known from Florida and the east coast of Central and South America (Lowry & Myers, 2019).

According to Bowman (1977) the species is living from 450 to 600 m altitude on San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos Islands on the bottom and sides of a wash, both from litter and from arboreal mosspads; amphipods found only on the ground. Among the moss Galapagos miconia bearing many epiphytes: mosses, lichens, liverworts, and ferns. Ferns were also growing on the ground. The ground was covered with brown soil with an occasional rock. At 550 and 600 m altitude the species was living in the Fern-sedge zone at the bases of clumps of bracken ferns, grasses, and sedges (Lowry & Myers, 2019).