https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=jp_2024 jp_2024 Ms Jennifer Poole University of Exeter Postgraduate student

University of Exeter Exeter Devon EX4 4PY GB

jnp25pvs@bangor.ac.uk 0009-0008-3252-9036 Ms Jennifer Poole University of Exeter Postgraduate student

University of Exeter Exeter Devon EX4 4PY GB

jnp25pvs@bangor.ac.uk 0009-0008-3252-9036 Dr Christos Georgiadis Zoology Museum of the University of Athens Zoologist, Entomologist, Curator ZMUA

Room #26, Section of Zoology – Marine Biology & Zoology Museum, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Zografou Athens 15784 GR

+30 210 727 4484 cgeorgia@biol.uoa.gr metadataProvider 2025-12-05 eng This resource details the occurrence data of invertebrates within Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko during May - June 2024. Invertebrates were sampled using Sangria wine-baited pitfall traps, with the exception of Gastropoda which were sampled using one minute timed searches in a 2m squared quadrat. Pitfall traps were left active for three days and specimens were collected and preserved in 95% ethanol.  samplingEvent Occurrence metadata GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type_2015-07-10.xml Specimen GBIF Dataset Subtype Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_subtype.xml To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction. Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html CC0-1.0 Three islands from the Cyclades within the Aegean archipelago were surveyed: Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko. 200m squared areas were chosen to determine the area for the random placement of the pitfall traps and quadrats. These include two areas in Despotiko - the archaeological site and just outside the site (north-eastern part of the island); the central area of Tsimintiri; and two areas in the south-western part of Antiparos. 25.002 25.04 36.993 36.964 2024-05-27 2024-06-18 A total of 1147 specimens (excluding Formicidae which were sampled by presence/absence) belonging to 14 invertebrate orders were collected from pitfall traps across Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko. Of these, specimens from the order Stylommatophora (60) and the Tenebrionidae (708) and Cerambycidae (14) families from the order Coleoptera were identified to species level. Formicidae and Mutillidae specimens were also curated and identified to species level and curated. order Coleoptera phylum Mollusca phylum Arthropoda class Insecta order Diptera family Mutillidae order Blattodea family Ptinidae family Geomitridae family Cucujidae order Neuroptera order Hymenoptera order Hemiptera family Cryptophagidae kingdom Animalia order Pseudoscorpiones family Helicidae family Carabidae order Archaeognatha class Collembola family Scarabidae order Araneae family Dermestidae family Curculionidae family Cerambycidae order Stylommatophora family Tenebrionidae order Orthoptera family Clausiliidae order Isopoda class Gastropoda family Hygromiidae order Lepidoptera family Elateridae class Arachnida family Formicidae During May-June 2024, a comprehensive survey of the ground invertebrate fauna on Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko (Cyclades, Greece) was conducted as part of a master's research project. This involved standardised baited pitfall trapping and timed hand-searches to sample and compare the ground invertebrate fauna across the different islands. A broad survey of the two uninhabited isets of Despotiko and Tsimintiri had yet been performed so this project aimed to fill that gap and provide a foundation for future studies. Invertebrate are often overlooked despite their importance in ecosystem function (Losey and Vaughan 2006, Cardoso et al. 2025). Examples include pollination, soil nutrient cycling, food chain dynamics and decomposition. Understanding invertebrate community composition and factors influencing this is important to inform conservation practices.Islands are like natural laboratories for studying ecological processes and often have unique species assemblages due to their size and isolation properties (Spengler et al. 2011; Whittaker et al. 2017; Barreto et al. 2021). The Mediterranean Basin is a known biodiversity hotspot with unique geology, geography, climate and human history (Cuttelod et al. 2009). The presence of many islands makes the Mediterranean an interesting study system, but despite extensive research, there are still numerous islands and islets which lack biodiversity information. Smaller, lesser-known islands and islets are often overlooked, such as those in Aegean archipelago in the eastern Mediterranean. The Aegean Sea has more than 7500 different islands and islets, the majority of which are continental shelf islands with unique paleogeographic history and geological backgrounds (Fassoulas 2018). This study aims to bridge this knowledge gap by researching the invertebrate communities in three such islands in the central Cyclades: Antiparos, Despotiko and Tsimintiri. These islands are interesting ecologically and biogeographically. The inter-island distance is very small, with the islands separated by a shallow strait. The presence of Tsimintiri between Despotiko and Antiparos means that this island could act as a stepping stone, thus affecting the formation of invertebrate assemblages. Historically, these islands were connected and used by the Ancient Greeks, while nowadays these islands are hotspots for tourists. This means that human-assisted migration may be taking place and also affecting species assemblages. Antiparos has been mentioned in numerous papers in broad-scale island studies (Papadopoulou et al. 2009; Itescu et al. 2017; Triantis et al. 2018) but there are very few published publications regarding any biodiversity in Tsimintiri and Despotiko (Schwarz et al. 2020; Poole et al. 2025). The dataset comprises of two files: sampling event and associated occurrences. The sampling event file includes the metadata of the sampling event (location, habitat type, georeferences, temporal coverage). The associated occurrences file covers a wide range of invertebrate orders sampled through baited pitfall trapping and timed hand-searches. It has count data as well as taxonomic and collection information  Greater taxonomy to species level is reached for the Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles), Carabidae (ground beetles), Formicidae (ants), Mutillidae (velvet ants) and Stylommatophora (air-breathing land snails). All specimens were collected and preserved in 95% ethanol, with some Formicidae and Mutillidae specimens curated at the Zoology Museum of the University of Athens (ZMUA). Many thanks to the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy and Yannos Kourayos from the Ministry of Culture for allowing us to access and survey Despotiko, Tsimintiri and Antiparos. Further thanks go to our research assistant Caitlin Horne and archaeologist Erica Angliker for their help and advice. Special thanks go to all the experts at the University of Athens: Panayiotis Pafilis for his guidance and enabling us to access expert knowledge and laboratory equipment at the University of Athens, Aris Parmakelis and Giannos Xydias for identifying our snail specimens, Christos Georgiadis for help with curating and identifying our ant specimens, Ioannis Anastasiou for identifying our Tenebrionidae specimens and University of Athens students for help identifying our Carabidae specimens and Cerambycidae specimens. This project would not be possible without the additional funding from Jersey International Centre of Advanced Studies (University of Exeter). Unless there are errors, there are no plans to update the resource. notPlanned Ms Jennifer Poole University of Exeter Postgraduate student

University of Exeter Exeter Devon EX4 4PY GB

jnp25pvs@bangor.ac.uk 0009-0008-3252-9036 Dr Thomas Hesselberg University of Oxford Head of Programmes (STEM and Joint Programmes) & Departmental Lecturer in Biological Sciences

Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square Oxford Oxfordshire OX1 2JA GB

thomas.hesselberg@biology.ox.ac.uk Determination of 200 x 200m areas were determined based on accessibility to survey the area. Points were then generated 50m apart to determine the location of the pitfall traps. Each trap was made with 12 oz cups with lids inverted and a 3m diameter hole cut to act as the filter. Water and detergent were mixed as the killing agent. 120 ml of Sangria wine was used as bait halfway up the cup, attached with a cocktail stick. Surrounding rocks were used as a cover, leaving 2cm gap from the ground. 2 x 2m quadrats were then positioned with the pitfall trap as close to the centre of the quadrat as possible. 1 minute timed hand-searches for snail shells were then conducted within the quadrat area. Three nights after traps were laid out, the samples were collected and immediately preserved in 95% ethanol and identified at a later date. Three islands (Antiparos, Despotiko and Tsimintiri) in the central Aegean Sea, Cyclades, Greece were surveyed in May-June 2024. Invertebrate sampling was conducted within five 200 x 200m areas across the three islands chosen based on accessibility: two areas in Despotiko, two in Antiparos and one in Tsimintiri were. 10 pitfall traps were randomly positioned within each area at least 50m apart were active for three nights. Randomisation was conducted using QGIS random point generator. Pitfall traps were dug as close to the coordinates specified. These traps consisted of transparent plastic cups (12 oz) which were baited with Sangria wine. Cups were dug ensuring the rim was flush with the ground. The position of the cups was also paired with the positioning of 2 x 2m quadrats for 1 minute timed hand-searches of snail shells. Pitfall traps were randomly placed to avoid bias and positioned at least 50m apart to ensure each sample was independent. The traps were also standardised in size, duration active and amount of bait. The same recorder was used to carry out timed searches for snails to avoid variation in recorder detection. Identification of specimens to species level were identified through careful examination under a stereomicroscope with use of dichotomous keys and trained taxonomists in their field. Ms Jennifer Poole 0009-0008-3252-9036 author Invertebrates are important for ecosystem function and despite their importance, there are still knowledge gaps in some species distributions. This project aimed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the invertebrate fauna across Antiparos, Despotiko and Tsimintiri, as part of a broader comparative assessment investigate island biogeography patterns across these islands. The islets of Despotiko and Tsimintiri in the Cyclades, Greece are uninhabited and are of archaeological importance. However, they have not received much attention with regards to biodiversity. A total of 1147 specimens (excluding Formicidae which were sampled by presence/absence) belonging to 14 invertebrate orders were collected from pitfall traps across Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko. Greater taxonomic depth was reached for various beetle families, ants and snails. Overall, this project provides a foundation of data for future studies on these islands. This project was partially funded by Jersey International Centre of Advanced Studies, University of Exeter. Three islands in the Cyclades in the central Aegean Sea were surveyed: Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko. The climate is typical Mediterranean climate. It is hot and dry in the summer, and these islands are also exposed to Meltemi/Etesian winds which are strong, dry, northerly winds that are present between May and September. Overall, the environment is xeric and grazed. Surveying of ground invertebrates took place from May-June 2024. As the aim of the project was to conduct a comparative assessment of ground invertebrate communities across the study islands, baited pitfall trapping and timed-searches for invertebrates not likely to enter pitfall traps (e.g. snails) were conducted. Inter-island distances are short and the islands were recently connected as one land mass so it is predicted that they would have similar community composition. However, the area of each island is markedly different and therefore species-area patterns may be at play. This project also carried out statistical analysis comparing island richness and area to see if it follows the general pattern of a larger area encompassing greater species richness. 2025-04-09T06:31:05.643+00:00 dataset Poole J., Smith, J., Hesselberg, T. and Georgiadis, C. (2024). The invertebrates of Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko in the Cyclades, Greece. Version 1.0. TGBIF Secretariat. jp_2024 dataset. https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=jp_2024&v=1.0 JP_2024 Invertebrates of Antiparos, Tsimintiri and Despotiko alcohol pinned boxes 1 3