European Collembola Taxonomic and Ecological Traits Catalogue

This catalogue was developed within the KYBELE project (ELIXIR, Biodiversity, Food Security and Pathogens, 2024–2028) to integrate taxonomic information, COI barcode sequences, ecological traits, and specimen metadata for European Collembola (springtails). The catalogue contains 317 species belonging to 21 families and 97 genera, for which COI barcode records are available from the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). The dataset combines taxonomic information verified against NCBI Taxonomy with ecological trait information extracted from scientific literature using KYBELE's literature-mining and question-answering workflows, followed by manual and semi-manual curation. It is intended to support biodiversity research, ecological analyses, DNA metabarcoding and megabarcoding, and the integration of molecular data with taxonomic and ecological information. Catalogue fields The catalogue contains 38 columns organised into the following categories. 1. Taxonomic information and identifiers species: scientific name of the species. genus: genus to which the species belongs. family: family assigned to the species. ncbi_taxid: NCBI Taxonomy identifier assigned at the lowest available taxonomic rank. taxid_matched_rank: taxonomic rank at which the NCBI TaxID was matched (species, genus, or family). Bold_processid: unique BOLD Process ID associated with the barcode record. Bold_sampleid: sample identifier supplied when the specimen was submitted to BOLD. 2. Trophic guild Trophic guilds describe the feeding ecology of Collembola and follow the hierarchical classification proposed by Potapov et al. (2016, 2022). trophic_guild: trophic-guild assignment supported by direct evidence for the target species. trophic_guild_indirect: assignment based on indirect or less taxonomically specific evidence. trophic_evidence_type: type of evidence associated with the trophic-guild assignment. trophic_note: additional notes on the assignment and supporting evidence. The main trophic-guild categories are: Herbivores: feed on plants and/or algae. Detritivores: feed on detritus of different origins, including plant, fungal, and animal material. Microbivores: feed on bacteria and/or fungi. Carnivores: feed on other consumers, excluding bacteria and fungi. 3. Body size body_size_mm: body-size value in millimetres supported by direct evidence. body_size_indirect_mm: body-size value in millimetres based on indirect or less specific evidence. body_size_note: notes on the value, its source, or the evidence supporting the assignment. 4. Habitat habitat: habitat assignment supported by direct evidence for the target species. habitat_indirect: habitat assignment based on indirect or less specific evidence. habitat_evidence_type: type of evidence associated with the habitat assignment. habitat_note: notes on the habitat assignment and supporting evidence. Habitat information is derived from the available literature and specimen metadata. Habitat terminology has not yet been fully harmonised with the pan-European EUNIS habitat classification. 5. Literature sources and question-answering outputs Trait-specific fields following these naming patterns document the literature-mining and question-answering (QA) process: *_sources: literature sources retrieved for the relevant trait. *_n_docs: number of documents considered. *_qa_answer: answer generated by the QA workflow. These fields provide information on the sources considered and the outputs generated during trait extraction, supporting traceability and subsequent curation. 6. BOLD specimen and collection metadata Bold_life_stage: life stage recorded for the specimen. Bold_habitat: habitat information recorded in BOLD. Bold_sampling_protocol: sampling protocol. Bold_country: country of collection. Bold_province: province or equivalent subnational location. Bold_coordinates: geographic coordinates of the collection locality. Bold_elev: elevation of the collection locality. Bold_collection_date: collection date. Bold_ecoregio: ecoregion information. Bold_biome: biome information. These fields retain specimen and collection metadata associated with the selected BOLD record. 7. COI barcode sequence Sequence: COI-5P barcode sequence associated with the record, provided in the 5′ to 3′ direction. Interpretation of ecological trait assignments Trait assignments distinguish between direct and indirect evidence. Direct evidence consists of a source statement explicitly describing the trait for the target species. Indirect evidence includes qualified or uncertain statements, information referring to a congeneric species or to Collembola more generally, and inferences based on the collection substrate or locality. Direct and indirect assignments are stored in separate fields to preserve the distinction between evidence types. Notes and literature sources are retained where available to support assessment of the evidence and facilitate further curation. Data coverage and limitations The availability of ecological information varies among traits. In the version described by the accompanying project documentation, direct and indirect assignments are available for 15 and 23 taxa for trophic guild, 15 and 11 taxa for body size, and 146 and 91 taxa for habitat, respectively. These figures reflect the documented catalogue version and may change in subsequent releases. The limited coverage of some traits, particularly trophic guild and body size, is largely related to the scarcity of ecological information in the retrieved literature. Further work may include expanding trait coverage, improving taxonomic alignment, and harmonising habitat annotations.