Artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasingly recognised as an important anthropogenic pressure affecting nocturnal biodiversity, particularly in oceanic islands with high endemism levels. Arthropods, especially moths (Lepidoptera), are key components of nocturnal ecosystems, yet their distribution and abundance patterns in Madeira Island remain insufficiently documented and their responses to ALAN are poorly understood. This study was implemented under the LIFE Natura@night project – Mitigating light pollution in Macaronesia (LIFE20 NAT/PT/001098; https://www.naturaatnight.spea.pt), which aims to assess and mitigate the impacts of artificial light at night on biodiversity and ecosystems across the Macaronesian archipelagos, while supporting evidence-based conservation and management actions.

This dataset presents terrestrial arthropod occurrences collected across Natura 2000 protected areas of Madeira Island during two field campaigns conducted in late summer 2022 and spring 2023. Heath UV light traps were complemented with wine-rope bait traps to maximise the detection of nocturnal arthropods. The dataset comprises 1,939 occurrence records (including 35 absence records), documenting 11,885 individuals belonging to 200 taxa (species and subspecies) from 16 terrestrial arthropod groups and is dominated by Lepidoptera (76.2% of all records). Of the 179 lepidopteran taxa recorded, 63 (35.2%) are endemic to Madeira, 68 (38.0%) are native non-endemic taxa, 38 (21.2%) are introduced and 10 (5.6%) are migratory, highlighting the exceptional conservation value of the surveyed Natura 2000 sites.

Several endemic lepidopteran taxa of particular conservation interest were recorded, including Blastobasis bassii Karsholt & Sinev, 2004; Blastobasis laurisilvae Karsholt & Sinev, 2004; Blastobasis wollastoni Karsholt & Sinev, 2004; Blepharita inexspectata Weidlich, 2001; Herbulotina maderae Pinker, 1971; Mythimna serradaguae Wolff, 1977; Noctua teixeirai Pinker, 1971; Xenochlorodes magna Wolff, 1977; and Zelleria wolffi Klimesch, 1983, many of which are characterised by restricted distributions and were sampled in small numbers. Additional rare endemic species included Agrotis atrux (Pinker, 1971); Carposina anopta Diakonoff, 1988; Eupithecia latipennata Prout, 1914; and Eupithecia rosai Pinker, 1962.

The survey provided new insights into the arthropod fauna of Madeira, including two potential new records for the Archipelago [Blastesthia tessulatana (Staudinger, 1871) and Heterotoma planicornis (Pallas, 1772)], a possible first confirmed record (Eudonia mercurella Linnaeus, 1758) and the re-confirmation of a previously doubtful taxon (Blastobasis phycidella Zeller, 1839). These findings emphasise the value of continued biodiversity monitoring in improving knowledge of Madeira's terrestrial arthropod diversity. The dataset also documents the occurrence of Hipparchia maderensis Baker, 1891, the only diurnal butterfly recorded during the survey.