Water Beetle Surveys from Britain and Ireland

The dataset comprises mostly precisely-located records collected through various surveys by individuals and other organisations across Britain and Ireland of beetles associated with the freshwater habitat. These include strictly or predominantly aquatic families: Sphaeriusidae, Gyrinidae, Haliplidae, Noteridae, Paelobiidae, Dytiscidae, Helophoridae, Georissidae, Hydrochidae, Spercheidae, Hydrophilidae, Hydraenidae, Elmidae, Dryopidae, Limnichidae, Heteroceridae, Psephenidae, as well as species associated with wetlands in other families of the Coleoptera. Records have been submitted since 1979 to the Water Beetle Recording Scheme for incorporation into a single database. Earlier records compiled on card indexes by the late Frank and Jack Balfour-Browne and other workers before 1979 are also incorporated into the database. The dataset also contains a small number of fossil (post-glacial) records. Note that that NBN data-base uses about 280k records whereas at November 2007 the data-base stands at 348k records, with a massive improvement in coverage of Ireland.