GALAPAGOS INVERTEBRATES

An invertebrate is any animal without a backbone. Without invertebrates such as insects and worms) life as we know it would not exist. There are more kinds of invertebrates than all other animals put together. Even in the Galapagos, which does not have as many species as comparable areas of rainforest, there are more invertebrate species than all other animals combined. Recent estimates put the total at around around 2,000 species, of which at least half are found nowhere else. Most of these are insects. Efforts are currently underway to catalog the biodiversity of the islands' terrestrial invertebrates, so this total will inevitably increase. Who knows what hidden wonders remain to be discovered? Here are featured just a few of the islands' more prominent, colorful species.