A nearly complete database on the records and ecology of the rarest boreal tiger moth from 1840s to 2020

Global environmental changes may cause dramatic insect declines but over century-long time series of certain species’ records are rarely available for scientific research. The Menetries’ Tiger Moth (Arctia menetriesii) appears to be the most enigmatic example among boreal insects. Although it occurs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Data
Main Authors: Bolotov, Ivan N., Gofarov, Mikhail Yu., Koshkin, Evgeny S., Gorbach, Vyacheslav V., Bakhaev, Yury I., Berlov, Oleg E., Gordeev, Sergey Yu., Kolosova, Yulia S., Kondakov, Alexander V., Korshunov, Alexey V., Potapov, Grigory S., Sinev, Sergey Yu., Sleptsov, Spiridon S., Spitsyn, Vitaly M., Strelnikov, Evgeny G., Timchenko, Andrey V., Haverinen, Risto, Nupponen, Kari, Saarenmaa, Hannu
Other Authors: Department of Forest Sciences
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2022
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10138/342685
Description
Summary:Global environmental changes may cause dramatic insect declines but over century-long time series of certain species’ records are rarely available for scientific research. The Menetries’ Tiger Moth (Arctia menetriesii) appears to be the most enigmatic example among boreal insects. Although it occurs throughout the entire Eurasian taiga biome, it is so rare that less than 100 specimens were recorded since its original description in 1846. Here, we present the database, which contains nearly all available information on the species’ records collected from 1840s to 2020. The data on A. menetriesii records (N = 78) through geographic regions, environments, and different timeframes are compiled and unified. The database may serve as the basis for a wide array of future research such as the distribution modeling and predictions of range shifts under climate changes. It represents a unique example of a more than century-long dataset of distributional, ecological, and phenological data designed for an exceptionally rare but widespread boreal insect, which primarily occurs in hard-to-reach, uninhabited areas of Eurasia. Peer reviewed