Synthesised database of wild bee and hoverfly records in Europe

Wild bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) and hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), the two major groups of insect pollinators, are undergoing alarming declines worldwide, including Europe. The lack of accessible and verified spatial and temporal occurrence records currently challenges efforts to understand and mitigate this decline. Here, we compiled datasets from diverse sources, including taxonomists, national experts, public repositories, museum collections, published literature, verified open-access platforms, and aggregated datasets from previous European projects. The collected data were standardised, cleaned and validated by taxonomists and national experts. This collective effort resulted in two databases comprising more than 4.34 million and 1.04 million records for wild bees and hoverflies, respectively. The databases cover 97% of the European bee fauna (2,083 species out of 2,138 recorded in Europe) and 97% of the European hoverfly fauna (886 species out of 913 recorded in Europe). These standardised databases constitute essential resources for future assessments of status and trends, habitat associations, and other research and conservation initiatives to protect and understand wild pollinators on the European continent.

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Publication Details

Journal
Scientific Data
Published
2026-01-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06644-2
Primary Topic
Plant and animal studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Synthesised database of wild bee and hoverfly records in Europe

Serge Gadoum, Lorenzo Marini, Jessica R. Litman, Menelaos C. Stavrinides et al.
Scientific Data
Plant and animal studies
article

Synthesised database of wild bee and hoverfly records in Europe

Serge Gadoum, Lorenzo Marini, Jessica R. Litman, Menelaos C. Stavrinides, Sébastien Patiny, V. Yu. Shparyk, Theodora Petanidou, Matthieu Aubert, Cyrille Dussaix, Ana S. Grković, Carlos Ruíz, Paolo Biella, Holger H. Dathe, Leif Bloss Carstensen, Mira Boustani, Sarah Vray, Dominique Zimmermann, Andrijana Andrić, Rita Földesi, Snežana Popov, Guillaume Ghisbain, João Loureiro, Aleksandra Đorđević, Hugo Gaspar, Lúcia Helena Corrêa Lenzi, Daniele Sommaggio, Natasha de Manincor, Juho Paukkunen, Joan Díaz‐Calafat, William Fiordaliso, Sílvia Castro, Antonio Ricarte, Sanja Veselić, Andree Cappellari, G. V. Popov, Sander Bot, Ingolf D Steffan-Dewenter, Marina Janković, Simon Cavaillès, Santos Rojo, Catarina Siopa, Androulla I. Varnava, Marija Miličić, MARCO SELIS, Helge Heimburg, Adi Vesnić, Clément Tourbez, Ante Vujić, A. Perrard, Jelena Ačanski, Umberto Maritano, Philippe Sagot, Eduardas Budrys, Gibernau Marc, Fabio Sgolastra, Imre Demeter, Jeroen van Steenis, Denis Michez, Jeroen Scheper, Justyna Kierat, A. V. Prokhorov, Axel Ssymank, Ígnasi Bartomeus, Laura Likov, Xavier Lair, Gunilla Ståhls, Elena Gazzea, Maud Mignot, Jordan Benrezkallah, Pierre‐Yves Maestracci, Sonja Mudri Stojnic, Maël Garrin, De Groot M, Thomas Romig, K. Janssen, Tea Skendžić, Frédéric Carion, Bastien De Tandt, Maurizio Mei, Rémi Santerre, Sara Reverté, Shawn Lemaire, David Kleijn, Joffrey Thulier, Ambre Dormal, Rémi Devorsine, Arthur Herinckx, Maxence Gerard, Tamara Tot, Benoît Geslin, Simone Flaminio, Jelle Devalez, Wouter van Steenis, Esther Ockermueller, Snežana Radenković, Max Kasparek, F. Javier Ortiz-Sanchez, Pierfilippo Cerretti, Thomas James Wood, Jakub Straka, Vianney Forgeois, Ahlam Sentil, Paul Williams, Pierre Rasmont, Petr Bogusch, Stefan Pruner, Simon G. Potts, Vladimir Rad chenko, Jan Smit, Costanza Geppert, Liuba A. Fedorova Zaytseva, Michael Kuhlmann, Thomas Brau, Villu Soon, Paolo Rosa, Jacobs Maarten, Eric Dufrêne, Gerard Pennards, Sara Brito Lopes, Lisette Cantú Salazar, Aleksandra Żmuda, Zorica Nedeljković
article en

Abstract

Wild bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) and hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), the two major groups of insect pollinators, are undergoing alarming declines worldwide, including Europe. The lack of accessible and verified spatial and temporal occurrence records currently challenges efforts to understand and mitigate this decline. Here, we compiled datasets from diverse sources, including taxonomists, national experts, public repositories, museum collections, published literature, verified open-access platforms, and aggregated datasets from previous European projects. The collected data were standardised, cleaned and validated by taxonomists and national experts. This collective effort resulted in two databases comprising more than 4.34 million and 1.04 million records for wild bees and hoverflies, respectively. The databases cover 97% of the European bee fauna (2,083 species out of 2,138 recorded in Europe) and 97% of the European hoverfly fauna (886 species out of 913 recorded in Europe). These standardised databases constitute essential resources for future assessments of status and trends, habitat associations, and other research and conservation initiatives to protect and understand wild pollinators on the European continent.

Scientific DataVol. 13(1)
University of Sarajevo (BA), University of Hohenheim (DE), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (IT), Jagiellonian University (PL), Natural History Museum Vienna (AT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NL), University of Alicante (ES), University of Mons (BE), Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE), Natural History Museum (GB), University of Helsinki (FI), University of Padua (IT), Université de Corse Pascal Paoli (FR), National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (UA), University of Graz (AT), Universidad de La Laguna (ES), Cyprus University of Technology (CY), University of Novi Sad (RS), Université Paris-Est Créteil (FR), Université Paris Cité (FR), Charles University (CZ), University of Würzburg (DE), Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (DE), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), Sorbonne Université (FR), Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution (FR), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Estación Biológica de Doñana (ES), Nederlandse Cystic Fibrosis Stichting (NL), Upper Austrian Research (AT), Slovenian Forestry Institute (SI), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LU), Nature Research Centre (LT), HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research (HU), Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (FR), Département Santé des Plantes et Environnement (FR), Finnish Museum of Natural History (FI), University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden (EE), I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology (UA), École Nationale d'Agriculture de Meknès (MA), Museum am Rothenbaum (DE), Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Neuchâtel (CH), Université Bretagne Loire (FR), Senckenberg German Entomological Institute (DE), Groupe d’Etude des Cétacés du Cotentin (FR), BioSense Institute (RS), Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University (UA), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Universitat de les Illes Balears (ES), University of Almería (ES), Université de Rennes (FR), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), University of Reading (GB), University of Hradec Králové (CZ), University of Coimbra (PT), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), University of Palermo (IT), Wageningen University & Research (NL), University of Bologna (IT), University of the Aegean (GR)
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Biodiversa+, European Commission, Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie, Ministry of Environment, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, European Social Fund, HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Life in Land
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Plant and animal studies
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