Galapagos Species Database

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

Pteronemobius santacruzensis Otte & Peck, 1998

Ground Cricket

Scavenger; pampa zone only, 600-800 m. February-June; often caught in pit traps. Wings are reduced and function only in stridulating in the males. The species are very similar and do not differ in genitalia, but do differ in calling song. The genus probably colonized in a flightless condition and both species descended from a common ancestor. The ancestor may have colonized in the arid zone, but the daughter species now occur only in the upper pampa zone of the two separate islands.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Arthropoda

Class
Insecta

Order
Orthoptera

Suborder
Ensifera

Superfamily
Grylloidea

Family
Gryllidae

Genus
Pteronemobius

Species
santacruzensis

Taxon category: Accepted

Origin: Endemic

Distribution

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

References

  • Otte, D. Peck, S.B (1998) Crickets of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Nemobiinae and Trigonidiinae). Journal of Orthoptera Research 7: 231-240.
  • 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.

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This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Pteronemobius santacruzensis", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=6860. Accessed 4 June 2026.