This dataset includes specimen ocurrence records from 72 countries. Most of the records are from the Portuguese entomofauna, comprising 31833 records (81.3% of the total) corresponding to 71968 specimens (90.1% of the total).The following countries most well represented in the collection are:- Guinea-Bissau: 1734 records (4.4%), 1734 specimens (2.2%)- Angola: 1534 records (3.9%), 1549 specimens (1.9%) - São Tomé and Príncipe: 1385 records (3.5%), 1407 specimens (1.8%) - Mozambique - 1078 records (2.8%), 1181 specimens (1.5%)Each of all other countries represent less than 1% of the total number of records.

This collection contains specimens from the Subphylum Hexapoda, mainly from the Class Insecta, but also contains specimens from the three Orders (Collembola, Diplura, Protura) of the Class Entognatha. The insect orders represented are Archaeognatha, Blattodea, Coleoptera, Dermaptera, Diptera, Embioptera, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Mantodea, Mecoptera, Megaloptera, Neuroptera, Odonata, Orthoptera, Phasmatodea, Phthiraptera, Plecoptera, Psocoptera, Siphonaptera, Thysanoptera, Trichoptera, Thysanura. The best represented Orders, calculated either in record numbers, or specimen numbers are:Coleoptera: 12802 records (32.7% of total), 16886 specimens (21.1 % of total)Hemiptera: 7684 records (19.6% of total), 14327 specimens (17.9% of total)Lepidoptera: 7538 records (19.3% of total), 7915 specimens (9.9% of total)Hymenoptera: 3521 records (9% of total), 8873 specimens (11.1% of total)Diptera: 3305 records (8.4% of total), 23270 specimens (29.1% of total)Orthoptera: 2149 records (5.5% of total), 5106 specimens (6.4% of total)Odonata: 1098 records (2.8% of total), 1105 specimens (1.4% of total)Of the total 39139 of records included in this dataset, about 54.1% (N=21167) records are only taxonomically determined to the Order level. About 7.2% (N=2837) are determined to the Family level, 6.9% (N=2717) to the genus level and 31.8% (N=12418) to the Species or Subspecies level.Among those determined to the Family level or more specific (45.9% of records, N=17972), there are a total of 268 unique Families, 1147 different genus and 1836 unique species. These are mainly distributed through the seven most diverse Orders:Coleoptera: 70 Families, 384 Genera, 458 SpeciesHymenoptera: 48 Families, 165 Genera, 396 SpeciesHemiptera: 37 Families, 114 Genera, 138 SpeciesDiptera: 33 Families, 52 Genera, 138 SpeciesLepidoptera: 26 Families, 322 Genera, 541 SpeciesOrthoptera: 11 Families, 51 Genera, 67 SpeciesOdonata: 11 Families, 29 Genera, 52 SpeciesAmmong these groups, the level of taxonomic determination achieved is not similar:ColeopteraOrder 6287 (49.1% of total)Family 1552 (12.1%)Genus 2208 (17.2%)Species 2668 (20.8%)Subspecies 87 (0.7%)Hymenoptera Order 1577 (44.8% of total)Family 285 (8.1%)Genus 216 (6.1%)Species 1377 (39.1%)Subspecies 66 (1.9%)HemipteraOrder 6875 (89.5% of total)Family 278 (3.6%)Genus 25 (0.3%)Species 491 (6.4%)Subspecies 15 (0.2%)DipteraOrder 1429 (43.2% of total)Family 425 (12.9%)Genus 52 (1.6%)Species 1397 (42.3%)Subspecies 2 (0.1%)LepidopteraOrder 1577 (44.8% of total)Family 285 (8.1%)Genus 216 (6.1%)Species 1377 (39.1%)Subspecies 66 (1.9%)OrthopteraOrder 1445 (67.2% of total)Family 115 (5.4%)Genus 97 (4.5%)Species 492 (22.9%)Subspecies 0 (0%)OdonataOrder 45 (4.1% of total)Family 52 (4.7%)Genus 70 (6.4%)Species 924 (84.2%)Subspecies 7 (0.6%)Coleoptera is considered the most diverse order of the Animal Kingdom and is also the group showing a higher taxonomic diversity in this dataset, and is also the most well represented Order, in number of records. However, the Order that is best represented in terms of specimen number is Diptera, which is only fifth in terms of number of records. This is due to the dataset including a large group of Drosophila specimens which are preserved in batches, each batch corresponding to a single record number. Each other Order represents less than 1% of the dataset, either in terms of number of records or number of specimens.The Order showing the best level of taxonomic determination is Odonata, where 84.8% of the records are determined to the level of Species or Subspecies. One should take into account that over 50% of the dataset remains determined to the Order level, and as more taxonomic information is acquired these numbers can change.

Digitiization of the Entomological Collection of the National Museum of Natural History and Science, Portugal

This work has been supported by several different projects, fellowships, student and volunteer works:

- NanoCell2SEC project

- PORBIOTA national research infrastructure

- PRISC national research infrastructure

- Post-doctoral fellowship of L. F. Lopes

- Master Thesis of L. Venceslau

- Research fellowship of P. M. Souto, L. Venceslau, D. Mameri, D. Parrinha and I. Neves

- Several short term volunteers

NanoCell2SEC project PTDC/CTM-REF/30529/2017

FCT for funds to GHTM – UID/Multi/04413/2013

FCT for funds to CE3C - UID/BIA/00329/2013

FCT Pos-doctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/84478/2012 - L. F. Lopes

Project 022127/01/SAICT/2016 granted to the research infrastructure PORBIOTA

Project granted to the research infrastructure PRISC