Galapagos Species Database

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

Elenchus koebelei (Pierce, 1908)

Larvae are parasites, probably in plant hoppers (Delphacisae, Hemiptera) and adult females remain in the host. They have been reared in the Galápagos on the delphacid bugs Nesosydne olipor and N. alcmaeon (Abedrebbo et al. 1990: 125); transition and humid forest zones. Elenchus koebeli probably dispersed to the Galápagos as larvae or an inseminated female in a host, because the adult females are flightless, and the males live only a short time, maybe for only 14 hours. Collected in January to March at ultraviolet light traps or flight-intercept traps, or in infected host insects. Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) found with strepsiptera in Galápagos are Balclutha lucida and B. rosea.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Arthropoda

Class
Insecta

Order
Strepsiptera

Suborder
Stylopidia

Family
Elenchidae

Genus
Elenchus

Species
koebelei

Taxon category: Accepted

Origin: Native

Distribution

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

References

  • Abedrabbo, S. Kathirithamby, J. & Olmi, M. (1990) Contribution to the Knowledge of the Elenchidae (Strepsiptera) and Dryinidae (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea) of the Galapagos Islands. Boll. Ist. Entomol. G. Grandi Univ. Bolonga 45: 121-128.
  • Peck, S.B. (2001) Smaller Orders of Insects of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 278 pp.
  • Peck, S.B. Peck, J. (1989) Elenchus koebeli (Pierce) (Elenchidae): First record of Strepsiptera from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. The Coleopterists Bulletin 43(2): 203-204

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, Elenchus koebelei", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=5822. Accessed 8 June 2026.