List of Galapagos Islands animals extinct in the Holocene

This is a list of Galápagos Islands species extinct in the Holocene that covers extinctions from the Holocene epoch, a geologic epoch that began about 11,650 years before present (about 9700 BCE)^[A] and continues to the present day.^[1]

This list includes animals that have gone extinct from the Galápagos Islands, an island archipelago belonging to Ecuador.

Many animal species have disappeared from the Galápagos Islands as part of the ongoing Holocene extinction, driven by human activity.

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Galápagos giant rat	Megaoryzomys curioi	Santa Cruz	Known from subfossil remains. Possibly extinct by introduced predators like feral dogs, cats, pigs, and black rats.[2]
Darwin's Galápagos mouse	Nesoryzomys darwini	Santa Cruz	Last recorded in 1930. Extinct due to competition, pathogens transmitted by, or predation by black rats, house mice, brown rats, and feral cats.[3]
Indefatigable Galápagos mouse	Nesoryzomys indefessus	Santa Cruz and Baltra	Last collected in 1934. Extinct due to competition, pathogens transmitted by, or predation by black rats, house mice, brown rats, and feral cats.[4]

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Darwin's ground finch	Geospiza magnirostris magnirostris	Floreana and San Cristóbal	Only recorded alive by Charles Darwin in 1835. It was restricted to the lowlands which were the most affected by human settlement starting in 1832; introduced donkeys, cattle, and goats reduced the Opuntia cacti it fed and nested on, while dogs, cats, and rats predated on the birds.[5]

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Pinta Island tortoise	Chelonoidis niger abingdonii	Pinta	The last known individual (Lonesome George) was captured in 1972 and died in Santa Cruz's Tortoise Center in 2012, but hybrid descendants survive in northern Isabela Island. Declined due to hunting and habitat destruction by grazing feral goats.[7]
Floreana giant tortoise	Chelonoidis niger niger	Floreana	Disappeared from the wild in the mid-19th century, though hybrids survive in captivity and in northern Isabela Island. Likely extinct due to hunting and the impact of introduced mammals including pigs, dogs, cats, goats, donkeys, cattle, black rats and house mice.[8]
Santa Fe Island tortoise	Chelonoidis niger 'Santa Fe Island'	Santa Fe	Undescribed lineage, known from subfossil bones.[9]
Rabida Island tortoise	Chelonoidis nigra wallacei	Rabida	Hypothetical subspecies based on tracks seen in 1897 and a single individual collected in 1906 but not preserved. No logs from whaling or sealing vessels make mention of collecting at Rabida, which has a good Anchorage and a corral nearby in which tortoises, perhaps from other islands, were temporarily held. The type specimen is of unknown provenance and was assigned to Rabida because it resembled the 1906 individual.[10] The Reptile Database considers it synonymous with Chelonoidis niger guentheri.[11]

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Fernandina Island tortoise	Chelonoidis niger phantasticus	Fernandina	Considered extinct after the only known individual, a male, was killed in 1906. An elderly female was discovered in 2019[12] and transferred to a breeding center.[13]

Common name	Scientific name	Range	Comments	Pictures
Galápagos damsel	Azurina eupalama	Galápagos Islands	Last recorded during the 1982-83 El Niño event, which warmed the waters it inhabited and killed off the plankton on which it fed.[14]