Welcome to the Charles Darwin Foundation’s (CDF) Galapagos Species Checklist (GSC). The information presented here is the first phase of an ongoing effort to assemble a comprehensive inventory of all known species of the Galapagos Islands. It represents a core part of our work in Biodiversity Assessments, one of CDF’s five research themes.
Despite a long tradition of research on a variety of Galapagos species, our scientific knowledge about biodiversity in the archipelago is still far from complete. As in many other parts of the world, iconic and emblematic species have received greater attention and are therefore better known than less conspicuous species groups.
Conservation efforts nevertheless rely on an objective understanding of all key species, their distribution, and ecological requirements. We need to know which native and endemic species are rare or threatened, and we have to evaluate which introduced species pose a significant risk as potential invasives that could be harmful to the natural ecosystems.
To understand the complexity of both the terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the Galapagos, it is essential to know their most basic biotic elements: the species. Analysis and description of ecological communities and habitats are fundamental to our understanding of Galapagos species diversity throughout the archipelago.
To commemorate our 50th anniversary in 2009, the Charles Darwin Foundation therefore began to compile this repository of all currently known Galapagos species. We estimate that more than 60% of all species that occur in Galapagos still remain to be discovered!
Presently, our CDF Galapagos Species Checklist (GSC) includes the most current information on both terrestrial and marine organisms of the archipelago. Because our knowledge continues to grow, this work in progress promises to bring you new data as it becomes available. For many groups, CDF is conducting extensive literature surveys, taxonomic updates, and compiling additional Galapagos specimen information from natural history collections worldwide in order to provide the most complete information possible.
For ease of use, we have divided the CDF-GSC into larger, generally well known groups (e.g., animals, plants, fungi). The listings follow taxonomic standards, but for convenience, the higher categories presented here also include ecological (e.g., algae, plankton, lichens) as well as taxonomic groups. Several segments were compiled by specialists with expertise in such an ecological group; others were compiled by specialists with a focus on a particular taxonomic group. Therefore the CDF-GSC represents a compromise: it is organized by informal categories, but, for the relevant groups, also includes their taxonomic classification.
For many taxonomic groups there is no information available, therefore the CDF Galapagos Species Checklist also represents a first attempt to identify our current knowledge gaps. Please contact us at c...@fcdarwin.org.ec if you can contribute!
All CDF-GSC listings include species names grouped according to their taxonomy. Whenever available these listings also contain additional information: for endangered and threatened species the IUCN Red List category is stated. When known, the origin of a species is distinguished as “native”, “endemic”, or “introduced”. For many species our taxonomic inventory is still in progress and the CDF-GSC will be revised and updated periodically.
In some instances we include information on rejected species, i.e., records that were previously included in published lists, but were based on misidentifications or taxonomic confusion. Some identifications are preliminary and reflect the current status of our knowledge.
Whenever possible we have included short references to the origin of our data: All CDF-GSC listings are based on literature references, data from ecological monitoring, collections housed at the Charles Darwin Foundation and, to some extent, also from other collections worldwide. For the first time, many groups also include distribution maps. Many species records are based on CDF Natural History Collections and our goal is to establish a searchable database for all the collection data.
The CDF Galapagos Species Checklist is available from our interactive website or can be downloaded in Excel spreadsheet format. Certain publications are also available in PDF format.
Please be sure to credit the researchers who spent endless hours assembling this information. For each segment of the CDF-GSC, names of editors, authors, and contributors are provided, and an example of how to cite this data is given below. Whenever you use the CDF-GSC, please be certain to cite this source!
You are welcome to download and use this information acknowledging the origin of the data.
This list should be cited as follows:
Financial Support:
American Bird Conservancy, Basler Stiftung, Conservation International (CI), Cybec Foundation, Darwin Trust, Darwin Initiative, Erwin Warth Stiftung, Frankfurt Zoological Society, Friends of Galapagos New Zealand, Friends of Galapagos in The Netherlands, Galapagos Conservancy, Global Environmental Facility (GEF), INCOFISH, J.Q. Worthington Foundation Inc., Japanese Embassy in Ecuador, Lindblad/National Geographic Fund, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Geographic Society, National Science Foundation (NSF), Galapagos National Park, Pew Charitable Trust, Kenneth & Diane Saladin, Sea World, Swarovski, Heinz Sielmann Stiftung, Steppes Discovery, Swiss Friends of Galapagos, The Bay and Paul Foundations, The Benificia Foundation, The Intrepid Foundation, UNF, USAID.
CDF projects are indebted to the fundraising effort of our Friends of Galapagos Organizations (FOGOs), located in many countries all around the world. FOGOs regularly support the Charles Darwin Foundation and without their contributions, this research would not have been possible. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge the continued support by numerous donors who have over the past decades supported a wide variety of CDF research projects in the Galapagos Islands. Many of these projects contributed to the CDF Galapagos Species Checklist indirectly even though their primary objective was not for taxonomic work. We gratefully acknowledge the continued support of all our donors.
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