Portuguese Moth Recording Scheme
Citation
Nunes J, Cardoso H, Valadares A, Banza P, Tomás J, Valkenburg T (2024). Portuguese Moth Recording Scheme. Version 1.4. GBIF Portugal. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/mbpxnd accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-10.Description
This resource includes the records of macro-moths produced by the Portuguese Moth Recording Scheme called "Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas" (REBN). This citizen science project promotes public participation in the production of faunistic data. The dataset consists of a collection of personal observations of the participants. It is intended to be updated annually with the results from the previous year. As a result from 2021 and 2022 samplings, more than 23 000 records are included.Purpose
This dataset was developed by the coordination team of Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas with the intentions to make public all the reliable data produced and to support the project with a stable repository. Given that there is still a great lack of knowledge about Portuguese moths, particularly in the species phenology and distribution, the publication of this resource also aims to provide a good source of data for current and future work in lepidopterology. The data is intended to be diversely used by the community, ideally to promote nature conservation.
Sampling Description
Study Extent
The geographic and temporal scope of this dataset is mainland Portugal and the Madeira Archipelago, between 2021 and 2022Sampling
Sampling procedures were based on light trapping. There is some variation in the sampling protocol between participants (sampling stations) that can be attributed to differences in the design of moth traps (e.g. Heath trap, Skinner trap, Robinson trap), the light source (e.g. actinic light, mixed light, LED) and its power. Moreover, the time effort is also variable between samplings. These differences are considered in the columns samplingEffort and eventTime. The right method used for each record is stated in the columns samplingProtocol (e.g. Skinner trap with Mercury vapor light of 125 W).Quality Control
To ensure the quality of the data, all the records that consisted of a significant increase in the known distribution of the species, i.e., a first record of a given species for Portugal or for a given province, were verified by the authors through the analysis of photos of the specimen(s) that support that record. In addition, records of uncommon species were also consistently verified by the authors. In the preparation of the dataset for GBIF publication, data consistency was verified using cluster algorithms using OpenRefine.Method steps
- The present data were obtained from the database of the project "Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas", from which the records where column “Por confirmar” (to be confirmed) contained “Yes” were filtered in Open Refine – in order to select only the records that the participants considered confirmed. Records without assigned species were also removed.
- To select only the records of macro-moths, just the families Cossidae, Drepanidae, Erebidae, Euteliidae, Geometridae, Hepialidae, Lasiocampidae, Limacodidae, Noctuidae, Nolidae, Notodontidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae were considered for this dataset.
- All the columns were placed in DwC format and mandatory columns were added: type, modified, license, collectionCode, datasetName, basisOfRecord, occurrenceStatus.
- The identifications in species groups where safe identification is only possible through dissection were reduced to genus level. The original identifications from the participants were maintained in the column verbatimIdentification. The column taxonRank present the taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName column.
- Some participants use the iNaturalist social network to get some help with moth identification (either by users, or through the AI algorithm). To signal the records identified using this network, a column named identificationRemarks was created and filled with "iNaturalist". The column identifiedBy is empty for these records. The column identificationRemarks also mentions whether the identification is based on the analysis of the genitalia of at least one specimen.
- The sampling effort of each sampling event was determined from the start and end times (e.g. “07 hours and 30 minutes of sampling time” in samplingEffort column from “22:00:00Z/05:30:00Z” in eventTime column).
Additional info
The records that represented a significant extension of the known distribution of the species, i.e., new province records and new country records, were formally published in Corley et al. 2022 and Corley et al. 2023. From 2021, a total of 45 new province records of 40 species were highlighted (Corley et al. 2022). From 2022, 1 record of a new species for mainland Portugal (Caradrina flava Oberthür, 1876) and 37 new province records of 35 species were highlighted (Corley et al. 2023). The 2021 records from the municipality of Lousada are discussed in Nunes 2022.Taxonomic Coverages
This dataset includes 23694 entries referring to records of 13 different families, 298 genera and 573 species/subspecies.
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Animaliarank: kingdom
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Arthropodarank: phylum
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Insectarank: class
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Lepidopterarank: order
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Cossidaerank: family
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Drepanidaerank: family
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Erebidaerank: family
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Euteliidaerank: family
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Geometridaerank: family
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Hepialidaerank: family
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Lasiocampidaerank: family
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Limacodidaerank: family
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Noctuidaerank: family
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Nolidaerank: family
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Notodontidaerank: family
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Saturniidaerank: family
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Sphingidaerank: family
Geographic Coverages
The occurrences are in mainland Portugal and Madeira Archipelago.
Bibliographic Citations
- Corley, M. F. V., Cardoso, H., Nunes, J., Valadares, A., & Valkenburg, T. (2022). New and interesting Portuguese Lepidoptera records from 2021 (Insecta: Lepidoptera). SHILAP Revista De lepidopterología, 50(200), 617–631. - https://doi.org/10.57065/shilap.270
- Nunes, J. (2022). Moth diversity of Mata de Vilar, Lousada, Portugal (Lepidoptera). Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, 70, 367-372. -
- Corley, M. F. V., Nunes, J., Rosete, J., Teixeira, J. & Valadares, A. (2023). New and interesting Portuguese Lepidoptera records from 2022 (Insecta: Lepidoptera). SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología, 51(204), 609–627. - https://doi.org/10.57065/shilap.784
Contacts
João Nunesoriginator
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
Helder Cardoso
originator
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
Ana Valadares
originator
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
Paula Banza
originator
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
João Tomás
originator
position: Collaborator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
Thijs Valkenburg
originator
position: Collaborator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
João Nunes
metadata author
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
Helder Cardoso
metadata author
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
João Nunes
administrative point of contact
position: Coordinator
Associação REBN - Rede de Estações de Borboletas Noturnas
PT
email: redeborboletas@gmail.com
homepage: https://www.reborboletasn.org/