92c064da-7d2e-4079-b491-f48c54eacb63 https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/resource?r=school_of_ants_2025 School of ants Cristina Castracani University of Parma, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences & Environmental Sustainability (SCVSA)

Parco Area delle Scienze, 11/a Parma 43124 IT

cristina.castracani@unipr.it 0000-0001-8802-9614 Fiorenza Augusta Spotti University of Parma, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences & Environmental Sustainability (SCVSA)

Parco Area delle Scienze, 11/a Parma 43124 IT

fiorenzaaugusta.spotti@unipr.it 0000-0002-4270-7229 Matteo Bisanti University of Parma, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences & Environmental Sustainability (SCVSA)

Parco Area delle Scienze, 11/a Parma 43124 IT

matteo.bisanti@unipr.it 0000-0002-4305-1399 2026-03-06 eng School of Ants Italy is a citizen science project coordinated by the University of Parma, in collaboration with MUSE – Science Museum of Trento (Italy). The initiative engages thousands of non-expert volunteers of various ages, genders, and backgrounds, with the objective of monitoring the distribution of urban ant species throughout Italy.Data are collected by participants following standardized protocols and using dedicated sampling kits during educational activities, bioblitzes, and scientific outreach events. All specimens are collected using bait-based sampling methods and subsequently identified by the research team responsible for the project.The resulting dataset spans the period from 2011 to 2024 and includes records primarily from Northern Italy, with additional observations from Central and Southern regions as well as the major islands. These data contribute to the long-term monitoring of ant biodiversity in Italy and represent a valuable resource for future research in ecology and citizen science. Occurrence 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 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html CC-BY-4.0 https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/archive.do?r=school_of_ants_2025 Italy 6.706 18.589 46.767 36.633 2011-10-19 2024-10-28 Insecta, Hymenoptera, Formicidae. All samples were identified to species level. kingdom Animalia Yearly addition of new records and periodic revision of taxonomic nomenclature by experts annually Alessandro Campanaro Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification

Via Lanciola, 12/a Firenze IT

alessandro.campanaro@crea.gov.it 0000-0003-4043-6362 Castracani C, Spotti FA, Schifani E, Giannetti D, Ghizzoni M, Grasso DA, Mori A. (2020). Public Engagement Provides First Insights on Po Plain Ant Communities and Reveals the Ubiquity of the Cryptic Species Tetramorium immigrans (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Insects 11(10): 678. Italian urban areas Standard sampling protocol using baits. Study sites are not pre-defined. The samples collected by citizens are identified at species level by taxonomy experts. Cristina Castracani 0000-0001-8802-9614 principalInvestigator Fiorenza Augusta Spotti 0000-0002-4270-7229 curator Matteo Bisanti 0000-0002-4305-1399 curator Maria Vittoria Zucchelli curator School of Ants Italy is a citizen science project coordinated by the University of Parma, in collaboration with MUSE – Science Museum of Trento (Italy). The initiative engages thousands of non-expert volunteers of various ages, genders, and backgrounds, with the objective of monitoring the distribution of urban ant species throughout Italy. Data are collected by participants following standardized protocols and using dedicated sampling kits during educational activities, bioblitzes, and scientific outreach events. All specimens are collected using bait-based sampling methods and subsequently identified by the research team responsible for the project. This work was supported by the collaboration agreement and the “contract for the management of educational and scientific material development” between University of Parma and Museo delle Scienze-Trento within the framework of the School of Ants project, and by grants from the University of Parma (FIL from 2012 to 2023) and by Fondazione CARIPARMA assigned to Professor Alessandra Mori and by grants from the University of Parma (FIL from 2018 to 2023) assigned to Professor Donato A. Grasso. This work has also benefited from the equipment and framework of the COMP-HUB and COMP-R Initiatives, funded by the ‘Departments of Excellence’ program of the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MIUR, 2018-2022 and MUR, 2023-2027). 2025-09-09T08:30:46.713+00:00 dataset Castracani C, Spotti F A, Bisanti M (2025). Myrmecological Collection from Italian Citizen Science Project “School of Ants”. Version 1.0. Occurrence dataset. https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/resource?r=school_of_ants_2025&v=1.0 Myrmecological collection of University of Parma alcohol dried 92c064da-7d2e-4079-b491-f48c54eacb63/v1.1.xml