Galapagos Species Database

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

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Mordellistena galapagoensis Van Dyke, 1953

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Mordellistena galapagoensis Los Gemelos, Santa Cruz Island. Photo: María Sol Herrera, CDF, 2024.
Mordellistena galapagoensis Los Gemelos, Santa Cruz Island. Photo: María Sol Herrera, CDF, 2024.

Larvae are scavengers, adults are herbivores?; arid to pampa zones; January–July, September; FIT, malaise, pit traps, on flowers of Erigeron, on Tournefortia rufo-sericea Hook. f., and Alternanthera echinocephala (Hook. f.) , at lights, sweeping vegetation.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Arthropoda

Class
Insecta

Order
Coleoptera

Suborder
Polyphaga

Superfamily
Tenebrionoidea

Family
Mordellidae

Section
Mordellistenini

Genus
Mordellistena

Species
galapagoensis

Taxon category: Accepted

Origin: Endemic

Distribution

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

Distribution: Floreana, Fernandina, Genovesa, Isabela, Pinzón, Santa Cruz, Santiago

References

  • Franz, H. (1985) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Koleopterenfauna der Galapagos-Inseln. Österr. Akad. Wissensch. Mathem.-naturw. Kl., Abt. I, 194(1-5): 73-124.
  • Linsley, E.G. Usinger, R.L. (1966) Insects of the Galápagos Islands. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences Fourth Series 33(7): 113-196.
  • Peck, S.B. Kukalová-Peck, J. (1990) Origin and biogeography of the beetles (Coleoptera) of the Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador. Can. J. Zool. 68(8): 1617-1638.
  • 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.
  • Van Dyke, E.C. (1953) The Coleoptera of the Galapagos Islands. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 22: 1-181.

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This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Mordellistena galapagoensis", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=6645. Accessed 8 June 2026.