The Wolf volcano in the Galapagos Islands has erupted in spectacular fashion for the first time in 33 years.

Ecuador's Galapagos National Park administration said on its Facebook page that the 1.7km-high volcano began erupting at about 1:30am local time on Monday.

Images and video of the eruption show fire and smoke soaring into the sky, as lava runs down the volcano's slope.

The volcano lies on the northern tip of Isabela Island, the archipelago's largest.

The park administration said there were no residential areas affected by the eruption, but added that the mountain is home to the only population of pink iguanas in the world.

Authorities said, however, that the lava flow has not yet put the iguanas at risk, the AP news agency reported.

The diversity of life on the Galapagos Islands, which lie about 1,000km off Ecuador's coast in the Pacific Ocean, helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution after he visited the islands in the early 1800s.

The Wolf volcano eruption comes about a month after Southern Chile's Calbuco volcano erupted after being dormant for about half a century - causing the evacuation of thousands.

Chile and Ecuador, including the Galapagos islands, are part of the Pacific "Rim of Fire".