Updated checklist of the ants in Belgium
Citation
Dekoninck W, Vankerkhoven F, Taelman C, Wegnez P, Ignace D, Adriaens T, Reyserhove L, Govaert S (2024). Updated checklist of the ants in Belgium. Version 1.5. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/ub8mcm accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-11-09.Description
The Updated checklist of the ants in Belgium is a species checklist dataset published by Institute of Natural Sciences. It contains information on 100+ ant species occurring in Belgium, detected between 1833 and 2023. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each species: the scientific name, kingdom, and stable taxon identifier (in the taxon core), the presence in Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels Capital Region, the year of the first introduction (first collection) and last assessment/observation in Belgium (given as a year range), as well as the degree of establishment and the pathway(s) of introduction (in the distribution extension), coarse habitat information (in the species profile extension), and the native range(s) (in the description extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/trias-project/belgian-formicidae-checklist.
We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don’t hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata.
This dataset was published as open data for the TrIAS project (Tracking Invasive Alien Species http://trias-project.be, Vanderhoeven et al. 2017), with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It is selected as one of the authoritative sources for the compilation of a unified and reproducible checklist of alien species in Belgium.
Sampling Description
Study Extent
This checklist is the result of 25 years of ant inventory and study in Belgium. Several checklists have been published before (Dekoninck & Vankerkhoven, 2001; Dekoninck et al., 2006; Dekoninck et al., 2012). Nevertheless, some unverified Belgian ant lists circulated on the web and therefore an official new and up-to-date checklist was essential. All data are retrieved from the database FORMIDABEL (Brosens et al., 2013). FORMIDABEL is a joint cooperation of the Flemish ants working group “Polyergus” (http://www.formicidae.be) and the Wallonian ant working group “FourmisWalBru” . The original database was created in 2002 in the context of the preliminary red data book of Flemish Ants (Dekoninck et al. 2003). Later, in 2005, data from the Southern part of Belgium; Wallonia and Brussels were added. In 2012 this dataset was again updated for the creation of the first Belgian Ants Atlas (Dekoninck et al. 2012). The main purpose of this atlas was to generate maps for all outdoor-living ant species in Belgium using an overlay of the standard Belgian ecoregions. Up-to-date maps are still available on www.formicidae-atlas.be.Sampling
A large portion of the occurrence data have been collected by volunteers, other records originated from several projects and research programs. The data and specimens were sent to the Belgian ant curators (all are authors of the dataset here), and after validation, the information was incorporated in the database. Most occurrence records originate from hand/nest sampling (mainly from Wallonia) and pitfall sampling (mainly from Flanders).Quality Control
All records are individually validated by species experts (resource creators of this dataset).Method steps
- The source data for this standardized checklist is a Google Spreadsheet and re-uploaded regularly at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LeXXbry2ArK2rngsmFjz_xErwE1KwQ8ujtvHNmTVA6E/edit?gid=1172557183#gid=1172557183
- This raw data file was uploaded to a GitHub repository (https://github.com/trias-project/belgian-formicidae-checklist).
- We developed a RMarkdown script to document and perform the transformation of the data to Darwin Core (https://github.com/trias-project/belgian-formicidae-checklist/blob/main/src/dwc_mapping.Rmd)
- The resulting Darwin Core data files are uploaded to the INBO IPT, documented with metadata, published and registered with GBIF
Taxonomic Coverages
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Formicidaerank: family
Geographic Coverages
Bibliographic Citations
- Brosens D, Vankerkhoven F, Ignace D, Wegnez P, Noй N, Heughebaert A, Bortels J, Dekoninck W, 2013. FORMIDABEL; The Belgian Ants Database. ZooKeys, 306: 59-70. -
- Dekoninck W & Vankerkhoven F, 2001. Checklist of the Belgian ant-fauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). Bulletin de l’Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Entomologie, 71: 263-266. -
- Dekoninck W, Vankerkhoven F & Maelfait J-P, 2003. Verspreidingsatlas en voorlopige Rode Lijst van de mieren van Vlaanderen. Rapport van het Instituut voor Natuurbehoud 2003.07. Brussel 191 pp. -
- Dekoninck W, Maelfait J-P, Vankerkhoven F, Baugnée J-Y, & Grootaert P, 2006. An update of the checklist of the Belgian ant fauna with comments on new species for the country (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Belgium Journal of Entomology, 8: 27-41. -
- Dekoninck W, Ignace D, Vankerkhoven F & Wegnez F, 2012. Verspreidingsatlas van de mieren van België - Atlas des fourmis de Belgique. Bulletin S.R.B.E./K.B.V.E., 148: 95-186. -
Contacts
Wouter Dekoninckoriginator
Institute of Natural Sciences
BE
email: wouter.dekoninck@naturalsciences.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7065-7310
François Vankerkhoven
originator
Mierenwerkgroep Polyergus
BE
email: francois.vankerkhoven@formicidae.be
Charlotte Taelman
originator
Ghent University
BE
email: charlotte.taelman@ugent.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2701-8297
Philippe Wegnez
originator
Association FourmisWalBru
BE
email: wegnez.phil@gmail.com
David Ignace
originator
Association FourmisWalBru
BE
email: david_ignace@msn.com
Tim Adriaens
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: tim.adriaens@inbo.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
Lien Reyserhove
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: lien.reyserhove@inbo.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7484-9267
Sanne Govaert
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: sanne.govaert@inbo.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8939-1305
Lien Reyserhove
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: lien.reyserhove@inbo.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7484-9267
Tim Adriaens
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: tim.adriaens@inbo.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
Sanne Govaert
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: sanne.govaert@inbo.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8939-1305
Lien Reyserhove
user
email: lien.reyserhove@inbo.be
Wouter Dekoninck
administrative point of contact
Institute of Natural Sciences
BE
email: wouter.dekoninck@naturalsciences.be
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7065-7310