Eyeless arthropods of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: composition and origin of the cryptozoic fauna of a young, tropical oceanic archipelago

Some 56 species of eyeless and reduced-eyed (obligately cryptozoic) macroscopic arthropods are now known from the Galapagos Islands. These occupy cave, ground water, and soil-litter habitats. Sixteen soil-inhabiting species have become established after their probable inadvertent introduction by humans. The number and diversity of the remaining 40 native and endemic species are remarkable because of the geologic youth (c3 M yr maximum) and oceanic isolation of the islands. -from Author

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