Invertebrates collected during the field trip of the XII European Symposium on Saproxylic Ecology (ESSE2025) in Belagaio Nature State Reserve (Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy)

Data were collected by expert entomologists during the field trip of the XII European Symposium on Saproxylic Ecology (ESSE2025). ESSE2025 was held in Florence and the field trip was organized in Belagaio Nature State Reserve in Grosseto province (Tuscany).

This Reserve is managed by Carabinieri Biodiversity Department of Follonica and it is included within the larger Natura 2000 protected area "Val di Farma" (SAC IT51A0003), developing on the right bank of the Farma river, a tributary of the Merse river. The Reserve hosts a number of protected habitats, due to the extraordinary orography allowing particular climatic inversion phenomena, which guarantee the survival of species generally distributed at much higher altitudes.Among such habitats, some are also protected under the Habitats Directive: •6220: Pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea •6210*: Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates ( Festuco-Brometalia ), with an important presence of orchids •7220: Petrifying springs with tufa formation ( Cratoneurion ) •91AA: Eastern white oak forests •91E0: Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior ( Alno-Padion , Alnion incanae , Salicion albae ) •9210: Apennine beech forests with Taxus and Ilex •9220: Apennine beech forests with Abies alba The woods occupy most of the Reserve (more than. 125 ha): they derive from past coppicing and can therefore be classified as “aged” coppices of Turkey oak ( Quercus cerris ), downy oak ( Quercus pubescens ) and holm oak ( Quercus ilex ) which, in the warmer exposures, include a varied retinue of Mediterranean shrubs.