Urban ants of Italy from a long-term community science-based dataset for biodiversity research

Urban environments are increasingly recognized as important settings for biodiversity monitoring, yet empirical knowledge of insect fauna in cities remains limited. Ants are key components of urban ecosystems and useful model organisms to study the ecological effects of urbanization. Urban ant assemblages include invasive alien species, climate-sensitive taxa, and species associated with both ecosystem functioning and human environments, making them relevant to questions of biodiversity loss, sustainable urban development, and human well-being. Here we describe a nationwide dataset on urban ants in Italy, compiled through the community science project School of Ants. The dataset, accessible through GBIF, contains 4,698 occurrence records collected between 2011 and 2024 using a standardized baiting protocol (cookie-crumb-filled tubes left open for one hour). It documents 66 species and four species complexes, belonging to 21 genera and three subfamilies of the family Formicidae, and represents approximately one-fourth of the known Italian ant fauna. Data were generated through the participation of more than 6,000 volunteers and subsequently validated by taxonomic experts. Records were harmonized according to Darwin Core standards to facilitate integration with global biodiversity infrastructures. This dataset provides a spatially and temporally structured resource to investigate the effects of urbanization on ant assemblages, track dominant and non-native species. Although coverage is concentrated in Northern Italy, the standardized and accessible protocol provides a scalable framework that can be readily adopted to generate comparable urban ant datasets in other geographic contexts.