Waarnemingen.be / observations.be - List of species observed in Belgium is a species checklist dataset published by Natuurpunt and Natagora. Waarnemingen.be (in Dutch) and observation.be (in French) are the two local Belgian subsites of the global observation.org website. The checklist comprises 18.785 species observed in Belgium. Here, it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each species: the scientific name, higher classification and stable taxon identifier (in the taxon core), its status (native, introduced) and first and last observation date per region (Flanders, Brussels Capital Region, Wallonia) in Belgium (in the distribution extension). Only observations which were approved by species specialists based on provided evidence (photograph or sound), or which were approved based on expert judgment by the validating experts were considered for publication (see Swinnen et al. 2022 for the validation procedure). Observers’ data-sharing settings were respected at all times. When the first or last observation from a species in a region was not to be shared, observers were contacted to request an exception for this species list. In the few cases this authorisation was not acquired, the next (for the oldest record) or previous (for the most recent record) observation date was considered for publication. This species list does not represent a complete overview of Belgian biodiversity, only species that are recorded in the citizen science platforms waarnemingen.be and observation.be. Other datasets and checklists have to be considered for the compilation of a complete Belgian overview. We have released this dataset under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). We would appreciate it, however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.natuurpunt.be/normen-voor-datagebruik). If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always prepared to provide more information or knowledge on how to use the data, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or natuurdata@natuurpunt.be. This dataset was published as open data for the TrIAS project (Tracking Invasive Alien Species http://trias-project.be, Vanderhoeven et al. 2017, Groom et al. 2022), with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The subset of introduced species is selected as one of the authoritative sources for the compilation of a unified and reproducible checklist of alien species in Belgium published as the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Belgium (Desmet et al. 2021). This way, validated newly reported alien species on the waarnemingen.be/observation.be citizen science portal (Swinnen et al. 2018) quickly find their way to the scientific tools supporting alien species policies and management in Belgium.

The National checklists and red lists for European butterflies is a species checklist dataset published by the Research Institute of Nature and Forest (INBO). It is described in Maes et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00127-z) and compiled from national species lists and red lists from nearly all European countries to prioritize butterfly conservation actions. It covers all 496 butterfly species recognized by Wiemers et al. (2018) to occur in Europe, and includes the occurrence status for 42 countries, including the Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands), and the red list status for 33 of these. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each species: the scientific name, higher classification and taxon identifier (in the taxon core), the occurrence status, red list status and sources this is based on per country or Macaronesian island(group) (in the distribution extension), and the English vernacular name (in the vernacular name extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/inbo/eurobutt-checklist/issues We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don't hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via opendata@inbo.be.

Red list of dragonflies in Flanders, Belgium is a regional checklist dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It is the official red list of dragonflies (Odonata) in Flanders, as published in De Knijf 2006. The dataset includes 66 species, with their Dutch vernacular name and IUCN status in Flanders. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/LifeWatchINBO/data-publication/tree/master/datasets/rl-libellen-checklist