Tag Archives: Celestus

Celestus fowleri (Schwartz)

Bromeliad Galliwasp (Celestus fowleri)

The Bromeliad Galliwasp aka. Fowler’s Galliwasp was described in 1971; it is known only from the type locality near the Windsor Caves in the Trelawny Parish in Jamaica.

The species is associated with large epiphytic bromeliads, it is hiding between the leaf rosettes where it is also feeding insects and other invertebrates.

The Bromeliad Galliwasp was apparently last seen (and photographed) in the 1990s; however, subsequent searches in the type locality did not yield any record and the species might well be extinct now.

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edited: 01.08.2022

Celestus occiduus (Shaw)

Jamaica Giant Galliwasp (Celestus occiduus)  

This species was described in the year 1802.  

The animals reached lengths of up to 90 cm (including the tail), whereby the males were larger than the females.  

The Jamaica Giant Galliwasp is now extinct, the last catalogued museum specimen was collected around 1860, and no individual was ever seen since. The introduced Mungo (Herpestes javanicus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire)) is often blamed for this extinction, but this animal was first imported to Jamaica in 1872.  

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References:  

[1] Byron Wilson: On the Brink of Extinction: Saving Jamaica’s Vanishing Species. EFJ’s 7th Annual Public Lecture 2011  

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Photo: Simon J. Tonge  
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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edited: 21.03.2018

Celestus molesworthi Grant

Portland Coast Galliwasp (Celestus molesworthi)

The Portland Coast Galliwasp was described in 1940; it was apparently restricted to a small region near the north-eastern coast of Jamaica.

The species reaches a size of about 8,5 cm (without the tail).

The Portland Coast Galliwasp was last seen in the 1950s and has not found since; it is thus believed to be very likely extinct.

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edited: 01.08.2022

Celestus anelpistus (Schwartz, Graham & Duval)

Altagracia Galliwasp (Celestus anelpistus)

This species was described in 1979; it is known only from the type series that was collected in 1977 in a small valley in the San Cristóbal Province in the southern  Dominican Republic.

The sole known type locality has been converted into agricultural land and it is very likely extinct.

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edited: 01.08.2022