DOI: 10.5061/dryad.hhmgqnkth
title: Local entomologists shine a light on moth communities: The value of amateur records in cataloguing long-term change

description: The University Museum of Zoology (Cambridge) (UMZC) recently received a
 collection of macro-moths from the late Gerald Maurice Haggett (1927-2019)
 (generously donated by his family), which included an estimated 40,000
 macro-moth specimens, and 17 books containing written records of moths and
 other Lepidoptera and wildlife observations. The majority of these records
 were his own, but the collection also included several written works from
 other people (listed below). The Museum similarly received a separate
 donation of written records from the late Colin Smith (1927-1997). The
 data presented here are transcriptions of written records kept by several
 amateur collectors in the UK across the last 82 years: Gerald
 Maurice Haggett, Reverend Cyril Alfred Drummond Ash (1856-1949), and Colin
 Smith. Records were extracted, species names updated using the NHM Species
 Dictionary, and separated by life stage, sampling method, location, and
 observer. Please note to protect the locations of some species, all
 species locations have been reduced to the county level. Further, in line
 with the wishes of the donors, all records of larvae that are not Least
 Concern (species conservation status according to Fox, et al. 2019) have
 been omitted. This will impact counts of records, but as larvae were not
 used in any analyses, this will not have impacted any of the results
 presented in the manuscript outside of those total counts. In order to
 understand how the newly acquired collection of specimens fit into the
 existing collection at the museum, we undertook a project to count and
 compare this new collection of macro-moths with the existing collection at
 UMZC. There is a separate dataset for that collection of biological
 specimens, including counts per life stage and in which collection.
 Written records are often discarded instead of deposited alongside
 biological collections in museums. Though the use of biological
 collections to study long-term change has increased over the years, the
 use of the associated written records has been less noticeable. As such,
 we demonstrate several uses of written records, including testing for
 changes in phenology, and species richness and abundance. The data
 presented here is largely in two forms. Firstly, a count of species by
 life stage of biological specimens present in the new collection and in
 the existing UMZC collection, for comparison purposes. Secondly, the
 digitised written records. The use of each dataset in the paper are
 explained in the accompanying code (analysed in R). There is a separate
 dataset for an associated collection of biological specimens, there were
 also collected by several people, with the largest contributions from
 Gerald Maurice Haggett, and Harold Edward (Ted) Hammond (1902-1963). For
 the written records, the dataset has been reformatted to streamline the
 code in several ways from the original structure, and so in some cases,
 there are multiple versions of the dataset included here. Their use and
 reformatting is explained in the code.
description: # Local entomologists shine a light on moth communities: The value of
 amateur records in cataloguing long-term change Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.hhmgqnkth](10.5061/dryad.hhmgqnkth) ## Description of the
 data and file structure The data presented here presents two new
 collections recently donated to the University Museum of Zoology
 (Cambridge) (UMZC). These collections come largely from two sources:
 Gerald Maurice Haggett (1927-2019) and Colin Smith (1927-1997). They are
 composed of written records (largely in the forms of diaries and field
 observations) and pinned insect specimens (referred to as biological
 collections). The focus taxonomic group of both collections are
 macro-moths, though both include a few records of other taxonomic groups.
 The written records donated by the Haggett family also include the works
 of Reverend Cyril Alfred Drummond Ash (1856-1949), and the biological
 collections also include the collection of Harold Edward (Ted) Hammond
 (1902-1963). All collections largely come from the UK, from the 1920s
 through to the early 2000s. The new biological collection was compared to
 the UMZC collection of macro-moths. This was done by counting and
 comparing the species, life stages, and species statuses of both
 collections. The written records were transcribed by several people into a
 digital analysable format, and then used to investigate changes in
 macro-moth phenology in the UK (using all records), and species richness
 and abundance in Cambridgeshire (using exclusively the Smith records).
 Please note that due to the nature of the records, in some cases details
 were absent (such as a clear explanation of sampling methods or a location
 of sampling given), in cases such as these, that value is given as
 'NA'. ### Files and variables #### File: Collin\_Smith\_6.csv
 **Description:**  ##### Variables * Sampling: Method of sampling, either
 Observation (observation of a moth in his home or garden) or MV (mercury
 vapor moth trap) * Day: day of observation * Month: month of observation *
 Year: year of observation * Date: year, month, day compiled into a date *
 Acronicta_alni: This and all following headings are moth species names,
 with genus and species separated by a "_",
 Phlogophora_meticulosa, Eupithecia_innotata, Watsonalla_cultraria,
 Hylaea_fasciaria, Perizoma_bifaciata, Tiliacea_aurago,
 Gandaritis_pyraliata, Cidaria_fulvata, Agrochola_lychnidis,
 Autographa_pulchrina, Laspeyria_flexula, Colostygia_olivata,
 Lygephila_pastinum, Lithophane_leautieri, Timandra_comae,
 Comibaena_bajularia, Plemyria_rubiginata, Eupithecia_succenturiata,
 Pyrrhia_umbra, Bupalus_piniaria, Agrochola_circellaris,
 Lacanobia_oleracea, Gonepteryx_rhamni, Lycia_hirtaria,
 Dryobotodes_eremita, Eupithecia_abbreviata, Hecatera_bicolorata,
 Noctua_fimbriata, Ceramica_pisi, Mythimna_conigera, Rusina_ferruginea,
 Philereme_vetulata, Petrophora_chlorosata, Agrochola_litura,
 Habrosyne_pyritoides, Spilosoma_lutea, Phalera_bucephala,
 Diachrysia_chrysitis, Mamestra_brassicae, Sideridis_rivularis,
 Ennomos_alniaria, Atethmia_centrago, Cucullia_chamomillae,
 Conistra_vaccinii, Cilix_glaucata, Clostera_curtula, Tyria_jacobaeae,
 Mythimna_ferrago, Mesoligia_furuncula, Lomaspilis_marginata,
 Apamea_crenata, Apamea_epomidion, Orthosia_incerta, Lomographa_temerata,
 Epirrhoe_alternata, Hemithea_aestivaria, Eilema_lurideola,
 Dysstroma_truncata, Eupithecia_vulgata, Orthosia_cerasi,
 Mesapamea_secalis, Korscheltellus_lupulina, Mythimna_pallens,
 Cabera_exanthemata, Cabera_pusaria, Amphipyra_pyramidea,
 Ptilodon_capucina, Earias_clorana, Apamea_oblonga, Eupithecia_assimilata,
 Apamea_monoglypha, Xanthorhoe_ferrugata, Mniotype_adusta, Conistra_ligula,
 Acronicta_tridens, Abrostola_triplasia, Pelurga_comitata, Agrotis_ipsilon,
 Philereme_transversata, Apterogenum_ypsillon, Lacanobia_suasa,
 Melanchra_persicariae, Agriopis_marginaria, Macrochilo_cribrumalis,
 Rhyacia_simulans, Graphiphora_augur, Lateroligia_ophiogramma,
 Xestia_triangulum, Gymnoscelis_rufifasciata, Cosmia_trapezina,
 Apamea_remissa, Cirrhia_gilvago, Eremobia_ochroleuca, Ennomos_fuscantaria,
 Idaea_fuscovenosa, Eupithecia_tantillaria, Theria_primaria,
 Xylocampa_areola, Selenia_dentaria, Deilephila_elpenor, Saturnia_pavonia,
 Smerinthus_ocellata, Herminia_tarsipennalis, Tholera_decimalis,
 Colotois_pennaria, Horisme_tersata, Diloba_caeruleocephala, etc. ####
 File: Comparing\_physical\_collections.csv **Description:**  #####
 Variables * Genus*sp:* Genus and species name, with genus and species
 separated by a \_ * Adults.main: Count of adult specimens of that species
 in the main UMZC collection * Larvae.main: Count of larva specimens of
 that species in the main UMZC collection * Pupae.main: Count of pupa
 specimens of that species in the main UMZC collection * Eggs.main: Count
 of egg specimens of that species in the main UMZC collection * Adults.hag:
 Count of adult specimens of that species in the newly acquired Haggett
 collection * Pupae.hag: Count of pupa specimens of that species in the
 newly acquired Haggett collection * Larvae.hag: Count of larva specimens
 of that species in the newly acquired Haggett collection * Egg.hag: Count
 of egg specimens of that species in the newly acquired Haggett collection
 * Status: Conservation status of the species according to Fox, et al. 2019
 #### File: List\_of\_counties2.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables *
 Counties: Name of counties in the UK * Ash: Number of records from Ash in
 each county * Haggett: Number of records from Haggett in each county *
 Smith: Number of records from Smith in each county * Total: Total number
 of records from all authors combined in each county #### File:
 Written\_records4.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables * Author: Name of
 observer (either Haggett, Ash, or Smith) * Date: Date of observation *
 Year: Year of observation * Month: Month of observation * Day: Day of
 observation * Excel.Date: Year month and day compiled into a date readable
 by Excel * County: County observation took place in * Sampling: Sampling
 method used (e.g. observation, MV = mercury vapor trap) * Genus: Genus of
 species * Species: Species name of species * Genus_sp: Genus and species
 compiled into a single field * Number: Number of individuals observed for
 that given moment in time * Latitude: Latitude of observation (mean of
 each county) #### File: Written\_records\_final\_Dryad.csv
 **Description:**  ##### Variables * Text: Name of book/volume the
 observation is taken from * Author: Name of the observer, either Haggett,
 Ash, or Smith * Date: Date of observation * Year: Year of observation *
 Month: Month of observation * Day: Day of observation * Excel.date: Year
 month and day compiled into a single field readable by Excel * County:
 County of observation * Sampling: Sampling method used (e.g. observation,
 MV = mercury vapor), please see the associated manuscript for further
 information on this. * Genus: Genus of observation * Species: Species of
 observation * Genus_sp: Genus and species name compiled into a single
 field * Number: Number of individuals seen in that given moment in time.
 Includes both numeric and qualitative counts (e.g. several, abundant) *
 Adjusted.num: In some cases, authors used qualitative terms (e.g.
 'several', 'abundant'), these were translated into
 numerical values (several = 5, abundant = 10) for use in analysis. This
 column contains those qualitative values translated into quantitative
 values. * Life.stage: Life stage observed (egg, larva, pupa, adult, NA if
 unclear) * Sex: sex of observation (if given) * Butterfly.Moth: Whether
 the observation was of a butterfly or a moth * Macro.Micro: If moth,
 whether it was a macro or micro-moth * Status: Species conservation status
 according to Fox, et al. 2019 ## Code/software All analysis took place in
 RStudio version 2024.12.0. Full version information is below. Data was
 stored as .csv. files, originally compiled in Microsoft Excel (version
 2503). No other software is necessary, and all files are presented.
 RStudio 2024.12.0+467 "Kousa Dogwood" Release
 (cf37a3e5488c937207f992226d255be71f5e3f41, 2024-12-11) for windows
 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like
 Gecko) RStudio/2024.12.0+467 Chrome/126.0.6478.234 Electron/31.7.6
 Safari/537.36, Quarto 1.5.57 #### File: R\_moth\_final.R **Description:**
 This is the R file used for analysis of all datasets. It is labelled
 throughout to explain analysis and uses separate subheadings for
 structure. It was written in RStudio version 2024.12.0. All analysis for
 the manuscript are contained within this file.