Data Paper |
Corresponding author: Dirk Maes ( dirk.maes@inbo.be ) Academic editor: Thomas Simonsen
© 2016 Dirk Maes, Wouter Vanreusel, Marc Herremans, Pieter Vantieghem, Dimitri Brosens, Karin Gielen, Olivier Beck, Hans Van Dyck, Peter Desmet, Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Maes D, Vanreusel W, Herremans M, Vantieghem P, Brosens D, Gielen K, Beck O, Van Dyck H, Desmet P, Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt (2016) A database on the distribution of butterflies (Lepidoptera) in northern Belgium (Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region). ZooKeys 585: 143-156. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019
Resource citation:
Maes D, Brosens D, Beck O, Van Dyck H, Desmet P, Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt, all butterfly recorders (2016): Vlinderdatabank – Butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) Dataset/Occurrence. http://doi.org/10.15468/njgbmh Data paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019
This paper describes version 1.3 of this resource: http://dataset.inbo.be/dagvlinders-inbo-occurrences&v=1.3 Vanreusel W, Herremans M, Vantieghem P, Gielen K, Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt, all butterfly recorders (2016): Waarnemingen.be - Butterfly occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium. Natuurpunt. Dataset/Occurrence. http://doi.org/10.15468/ezfbee Data paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019 This paper describes version 1.2 of this resource: http://dataset.inbo.be/dagvlinders-natuurpunt-occurrences&v=1.2 |
In this data paper, we describe two datasets derived from two sources, which collectively represent the most complete overview of butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region (northern Belgium). The first dataset (further referred to as the INBO dataset – http://doi.org/10.15468/njgbmh) contains 761,660 records of 70 species and is compiled by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) in cooperation with the Butterfly working group of Natuurpunt (Vlinderwerkgroep). It is derived from the database Vlinderdatabank at the INBO, which consists of (historical) collection and literature data (1830-2001), for which all butterfly specimens in institutional and available personal collections were digitized and all entomological and other relevant publications were checked for butterfly distribution data. It also contains observations and monitoring data for the period 1991-2014. The latter type were collected by a (small) butterfly monitoring network where butterflies were recorded using a standardized protocol. The second dataset (further referred to as the Natuurpunt dataset – http://doi.org/10.15468/ezfbee) contains 612,934 records of 63 species and is derived from the database http://waarnemingen.be, hosted at the nature conservation NGO Natuurpunt in collaboration with Stichting Natuurinformatie. This dataset contains butterfly observations by volunteers (citizen scientists), mainly since 2008. Together, these datasets currently contain a total of 1,374,594 records, which are georeferenced using the centroid of their respective 5 × 5 km² Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid cell. Both datasets are published as open data and are available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
Butterflies, distribution, collection, literature, citizen science, observations, monitoring
Butterflies are among the best studied insects in the world and have always attracted the attention of both professional researchers, amateur naturalists, butterfly collectors, and the wider public (
The datasets cover all 67 indigenous and 3 regular migrant butterfly species (Colias croceus, Colias hyale, Vanessa cardui). In the INBO dataset vagrant or doubtful species (Apatura ilia, Arethusana arethusa, Boloria dia, Brenthis ino, Coenonympha arcania, Colias alfacariensis, Colias palaeno, Cupido argiades, Danaus plexippus, Erebia aethiops, Erebia ligea, Erebia medusa, Hamearis lucina, Iphiclides podalirius, Lampides boeticus, Lasiommata maera, Limenitis populi, L. reducta, Lycaena dispar, Lycaena helle, Lycaena hippothoe, Lycaena virgaureae, Melitaea aurelia, Pontia daplidice) and introduced species (Cacyreus marshalli and Polyommatus damon) were excluded because no evidence of the observation was available. In the Natuurpunt dataset, however, eight vagrant species with photographic evidence, that most likely spontaneously reached Flanders were included (Apatura ilia, Brenthis ino, Cupido argiades, Iphiclides podalirius, Lampides boeticus, Nymphalis xanthomelas, Polyommatus coridon and Pontia daplidice). Three additional species (Aporia crataegi, Argynnis adippe and A. aglaja) are considered as indigenous species, but recent observations are all vagrant individuals. Nomenclature is according to Fauna Europaea (http://www.faunaeur.org/full_results.php?id=7).
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda, Subphylum: Hexapoda, Class: Insecta, Order: Lepidoptera, Superfamilies: Hesperoidea, Papilioidea, Families: Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Subfamilies: Apaturinae, Coliadinae, Dismorphiinae, Heliconiinae, Heteropterinae, Hesperiinae, Limenitidinae, Lycaeninae, Melitaeinae, Nymphalinae, Papilioninae, Pierini, Polyommatinae, Pyrginae, Satyrinae, Theclinae, Genera: Aglais, Anthocharis, Apatura, Aphantopus, Aporia, Araschnia, Argynnis, Aricia, Boloria, Callophrys, Carcharodus, Carterocephalus, Celastrina, Coenonympha, Cupido, Cyaniris, Erynnis, Euphydryas, Favonius, Gonepteryx, Hesperia, Heteropterus, Hipparchia, Issoria, Lasiommata, Leptidea, Limenitis, Lycaena, Maniola, Melitaea, Melanargia, Nymphalis, Ochlodes, Papilio, Pararge, Phengaris, Pieris, Plebejus, Polygonia, Polyommatus, Pyrgus, Pyronia, Satyrium, Spialia, Thecla, Thymelicus, Vanessa
Species: Table
The number of records per species in the two datasets and the sum of the records in both datasets. v = observations with photographic evidence, but the species most probably do not have populations in Flanders. † indicates that a species is considered as extinct in Flanders; the year of extinction is also given. Observations after the year of extinction are considered as vagrant individuals. M: regular migrant species, (M): the species is indigenous, but the regional population is supplemented by migrant individuals.
Species name | INBO | Natuurpunt | Total |
---|---|---|---|
Aglais io | 54,329 | 52,471 | 106,800 |
Aglais urticae | 35,237 | 25,047 | 60,284 |
Anthocharis cardamines | 15,689 | 17,393 | 33,082 |
Apatura ilia | - | 4v | 4 |
Apatura iris | 141 | 304 | 445 |
Aphantopus hyperantus | 8,156 | 7,636 | 15,792 |
Aporia crataegi †1960 | 120 | 2v | 122 |
Araschnia levana | 24,772 | 18,531 | 43,303 |
Argynnis adippe †1947 | 22 | 3v | 25 |
Argynnis aglaja †1971 | 54 | 1v | 55 |
Argynnis niobe †1977 | 21 | - | 21 |
Argynnis paphia | 272 | 697 | 969 |
Aricia agestis | 6,867 | 5,251 | 12,118 |
Boloria euphrosyne †1949 | 37 | - | 37 |
Boloria selene †1994 | 181 | - | 181 |
Brenthis ino | - | 7v | 7 |
Callophrys rubi | 2,008 | 1,552 | 3,560 |
Carcharodus alceae | 16 | 402 | 418 |
Carterocephalus palaemon | 1,159 | 2,478 | 3,637 |
Celastrina argiolus | 21,857 | 20,579 | 42,436 |
Coenonympha hero †1912 | 16 | - | 16 |
Coenonympha pamphilus | 9,886 | 10,429 | 20,315 |
Coenonympha tullia †1994 | 70 | - | 70 |
Colias croceus M | 3,380 | 12,762 | 16,142 |
Colias hyale M | 617 | 277 | 894 |
Cupido argiades | - | 1v | 1 |
Cupido minimus | 82 | 43 | 125 |
Cyaniris semiargus | 222 | 76 | 298 |
Erynnis tages | 102 | 130 | 232 |
Euphydryas aurinia †1959 | 65 | - | 65 |
Favonius quercus | 2,217 | 3,051 | 5,268 |
Gonepteryx rhamni | 20,011 | 22,357 | 42,368 |
Hesperia comma | 145 | 471 | 616 |
Heteropterus morpheus †1995 | 29 | - | 29 |
Hipparchia semele | 4,157 | 5,160 | 9,317 |
Hipparchia statilinus †1930 | 11 | - | 11 |
Iphiclides podalirius | - | 5v | 5 |
Issoria lathonia | 2,794 | 3,216 | 6,010 |
Lampides boeticus | - | 44v | 44 |
Lasiommata megera | 4,089 | 1,882 | 5,971 |
Leptidea sinapis | 144 | 585 | 729 |
Limenitis camilla | 1,154 | 2,323 | 3,477 |
Limenitis populi †1957 | 14 | - | 14 |
Lycaena phlaeas | 16,393 | 15,246 | 31,639 |
Lycaena tityrus | 303 | 263 | 566 |
Maniola jurtina | 35,117 | 31,782 | 66,899 |
Melanargia galathea | 53 | 23 | 76 |
Melitaea athalia †1968 | 80 | - | 80 |
Melitaea cinxia | 300 | 466 | 766 |
Melitaea diamina †1954 | 28 | - | 28 |
Nymphalis antiopa | 240 | 63 | 303 |
Nymphalis polychloros | 323 | 362 | 685 |
Nymphalis xanthomelas | - | 5v | 5 |
Ochlodes sylvanus | 11,484 | 15,660 | 27,144 |
Papilio machaon | 10,322 | 8,927 | 19,249 |
Pararge aegeria | 65,290 | 56,129 | 121,419 |
Phengaris alcon | 441 | 342 | 783 |
Phengaris teleius †1980 | 136 | - | 136 |
Pieris brassicae | 45,713 | 22,030 | 67,743 |
Pieris napi | 54,313 | 28,294 | 82,607 |
Pieris rapae | 94,957 | 52,188 | 147,145 |
Plebejus argus | 1,436 | 1,711 | 3,147 |
Plebejus idas †1984 | 15 | - | 15 |
Polygonia c-album | 33,660 | 36,058 | 69,718 |
Polyommatus coridon | - | 12v | 12 |
Polyommatus icarus | 20,269 | 21,186 | 41,455 |
Pontia daplidice | - | 3v | 3 |
Pyrgus armoricanus †1952 | 18 | - | 18 |
Pyrgus malvae | 589 | 527 | 1116 |
Pyronia tithonus | 31,771 | 21,184 | 52,955 |
Satyrium ilicis | 397 | 617 | 1,014 |
Satyrium w-album | 97 | 504 | 601 |
Spialia sertorius †1937 | 8 | - | 8 |
Thecla betulae | 835 | 2,191 | 3,026 |
Thymelicus lineola | 17,087 | 5,029 | 22,116 |
Thymelicus sylvestris | 1,012 | 387 | 1,399 |
Vanessa atalanta (M) | 69,965 | 55,306 | 125,271 |
Vanessa cardui M | 28,865 | 21,269 | 50,134 |
Total | 761,660 | 612,934 | 1,374,594 |
N species | 70 | 63 | 78 |
Number of grid cells surveyed | 631 | 634 | 637 |
Number of different observers | 1,697 | 3,856 |
Common names: Butterflies
Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region cover an area of 13,522 km² and 162 km² respectively (13,684 km² in total – Figure
Area of the main land use types in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region in ha (ranked in descending order of percentage in both regions). Source: Biological Valuation Map Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region (
Land use type | Flanders | Land use type | Brussels Capital Region |
---|---|---|---|
Agricultural land | 702 276 (51%) | Urban areas | 11 917 (73%) |
Urban areas | 411 144 (30%) | Woodlands | 1988 (12%) |
Woodlands | 138 595 (10%) | Other green areas | 1568 (10%) |
Other green areas | 39 516 (3%) | Agricultural land | 544 (3%) |
Water | 32 008 (2%) | Water | 185 (1%) |
Semi-natural grasslands | 15 315 (1%) | Semi-natural grasslands | 27 (<1%) |
Heathlands | 8140 (<1%) | Marshes | 17 (<1%) |
Coastal dunes | 1818 (<1%) | Heathlands | 3 (<1%) |
Marshes | 1742 (<1%) | ||
Mud flats and salt marshes | 1497 (<1%) | ||
Population density | 474/km² | 7210/km² |
50°40'48"N to 51°30'36"N latitude, 2°32'24"E to 5°55'12"E longitude
All distribution data of butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region were attributed to grid cells of 5 × 5 km² of the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection (Figure
10 × 10 km² UTM grid cells in Flanders and in the Brussels Capital Region. The partitioning of 10 × 10 km² UTM grid cells (left) into 5 × 5 km² UTM grid cells is shown on the right. The 5 × 5 km² UTM grid cells were used to georeference the distribution data in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region.
In total, Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region cover 638 (622 with records) and 9 (all nine with records) grid cells, respectively. The grid cells without records only cover a very small area within Flanders.
The INBO dataset mainly covers the historical museum and literature records (since 1830), butterfly monitoring records (since 1991) and observations (until 2008) while the Natuurpunt dataset covers the recent observations (mostly since 2008). Between 2000 and 2006, a butterfly survey project was organised in the province of West-Flanders (
Number of collected records between 1830 and 1985 (left) and between 1986 and 2014 (right) in the two datasets (INBO and Natuurpunt). Each number on the x-axis stands for a period of 5 years (e.g., 1905 = 1901–1905, 1910 = 1906–1910, etc.). Note the different scales on the y-axis for both figures.
Butterfly distribution data were collected in four different ways: i) collection data, ii) literature data, iii) monitoring transect data and iv) observations.
Collection data were digitized from the following museum collections: Bosmuseum Groenendaal, Royal Institute for Natural Sciences (Brussels), Agricultural Faculty of Gembloux, Ghent university and the Antwerp Zoo. Furthermore, the private butterfly collections of the following people were also incorporated into the INBO dataset: A. Artoisenet, R. Bracke, A. Caljon, S. Cuvelier, A. De Boer, K. Desender, P. Halflants, D. Hilven, J. & T. Jaeken, M. Keirens, H. Kinders, P. & W. Pardon, W. Tips, W. Troukens, F. Turelinckx, O. Van De Kerckhove, R. Van Heuverswijn, B. Vandepitte, J. Vervaeke & R. Winnen. The source collection is indicated in the field associatedReferences.
Published observations were searched for in different literature sources (see section “References to literature checked for occurrence data” in the Suppl. material
Butterfly monitoring counts were conducted along fixed transects of maximum 1 km, consisting of smaller sections, each with a homogeneous habitat (e.g., woodland, hay meadow, dry heathland – see
Observations (species, date, location, observer) were recorded by volunteers/citizen scientists and stored in the INBO dataset (mainly for the period 1991-2007, usually with a resolution of 1 × 1 km² or 5 × 5 km²) or in the Natuurpunt dataset. Since 2011, 69% of the records had a precision of 25m or less. Because of the increasing popularity of mobile apps using GPS readings in the field, this proportion increased with 5% per year to reach 77% in 2015. The number of observers in the INBO and the Natuurpunt datasets is given in Table
A list of references that used data described in this paper can be found in the section “Publications based on this dataset” in the Suppl. material
The data in both datasets were carefully verified by butterfly experts (including professional entomologists) taking collection specimens, the observer’s species knowledge, added photographs and known species list of locations into account. The validation procedure from www.waarnemingen.be consists of an interactive procedure in which observers can be asked for additional information by a team of validators, after which the validator manually adds a validation status. Records that are not manually validated are additionally checked by an automated validation procedure that takes into account the number of manually validated observations within a specified date and distance range. 11% of the butterfly records submitted to the data portal www.waarnemingen.be are supported by photographs. The validation status is indicated in the field identificationVerificationStatus.
In the original databases, the observer’s name, the exact XY-coordinates and the toponym are known.
The butterfly occurrence data are published as two separate Darwin Core Archives: 1) collection and literature data, observations and butterfly monitoring in Flanders and in the Brussels Capital Region (1830-2014) hosted at the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and 2) recent observations (1974-2014) from the Natuurpunt data portal (www.waarnemingen.be). The data models used for both datasets are identical and can be merged easily. The INBO dataset contains 761,660 records and the Natuurpunt dataset 612,934 records totalling to almost 1.4 million records. The data compiled for the butterfly atlas of the Brussels Capital Region are marked as INBO/LB-BIM in the ownerInstitutionCode field in the INBO dataset.
The distribution of the number of records and species per grid cell for both datasets is given in Figure
Number of records (left, increasing dot sizes represent 100, 1000, 2500, 5000 and >5000 records per grid cell) and species (right, increasing dot sizes represent 10, 20, 30, 40 and >40 species per grid cell) in the INBO dataset (1830–2014, top row) and in the NP dataset (1981–2014, bottom row). Squares indicate grid cells without records.
The data are standardized to Darwin Core (
occurrenceID, type, language, license, rightsHolder, accessRights, references, datasetID, institutionCode, datasetName, ownerInstitutionCode, basisOfRecord, informationWithheld, dataGeneralizations, recordedBy, individualCount, sex, lifestage, associatedReferences, samplingProtocol, samplingEffort, eventDate, verbatimEventDate, continent, countryCode, stateProvince, municipality, verbatimLocality, verbatimCoordinates, verbatimCoordinateSystem, verbatimSRS, decimalLatitude, decimalLongitude, geodeticDatum, coordinateUncertaintyInMeters, georeferenceRemarks, identificationVerificationStatus, scientificName, kingdom, phylum, class, order, taxonRank, scientificNameAuthorship, vernacularName, nomenclaturalCode.
• Object name: Vlinderdatabank – Butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium
• Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
• Format version: 1.0
• Character encoding: UTF-8
• Language: English
• License: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
• Usage norms: http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use
• Publication date: 2016-01-13
• Distribution: http://dataset.inbo.be/dagvlinders-inbo-occurrences
• Object name: Waarnemingen.be – Butterfly observations in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium
• Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
• Format version: 1.0
• Character encoding: UTF-8
• Language: English
• License: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
• Usage norms: http://www.natuurpunt.be/normen-voor-datagebruik
• Publication date: 2016-02-02
• Distribution: http://dataset.inbo.be/dagvlinders-natuurpunt-occurrences
To allow anyone to use the datasets described here, we released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Users of published datasets are encouraged to follow the respective norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use and http://www.natuurpunt.be/normen-voor-datagebruik [in Dutch]) and to provide a link to the original dataset (http://doi.org/10.15468/njgbmh and http://doi.org/10.15468/ezfbee), whenever appropriate. If used for a scientific paper, it is recommended to cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms (e.g.
First of all, we would like to thank the many volunteers for their observations, the subsequent board members of the Vlinderwerkgroep for their contributions to different data collection projects. A list of contributors to this datapaper can be send on request for the INBO dataset and can be found on http://waarnemingen.be/ranks_abs.php?jaar=0&diergroep=4 for the Natuurpunt dataset. Gert Van Spaendonk, Pieter Vandenbroeck, Jo Loos, Tom De Boeck, Wouter Van Schandevijl, Frederic Piesschaert, Sven Schelfaut, Stijn Van Hoey and Filiep T’jollyn helped to build, maintain and use the INBO web application. Stichting Natuurinformatie build the data portal www.waarnemingen.be. We also thank Marc Pollet and Anne Eskildsen for useful comments on the manuscript.
A database on the distribution of butterflies (Lepidoptera) in northern Belgium (Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region)
Data type: Additional references
Explanation note: The supplementery material provides 1) a list of published entomological references that were checked for occurrence data and 2) a list of references that used data described in this paper.