Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Island Bathynellacea (Crustacea, Syncarida) database

Abstract. This is the first published database of Bathynellacea. It includes all data of bathynellids (Crustacea, Bathynellacea) collected in the last 64 years (1949 to 2013) on the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Island. The samples come from groundwater (caves, springs, wells and hyporrheic habitat associated rivers) from both sampling campaigns and occasional sampling conducted throughout the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. The dataset lists occurrence data of bathynellids distribution, sampling sites (with localities, county and geographic coordinates), taxonomic information (from family to species level) and sampling sources (collector and sampling dates) for all records. The descriptions of new species and species identifications have been carried out by an expert taxonomist (AIC) with 25 years experience in the bathynellids studies (see references). Many of the sampling sites are type localities of endemic species from Iberian Peninsula. The dataset includes 409 samples record corresponding to two families, 12 genera and 58 species, 42 of them formally described plus 16 taxa unpublished and 47 samples in study. All species known from the study area are included, which nearly sum up a quarter of species of Bathynellacea known in the world (250 species).