Abstract
<jats:p>Organic orchards and their associated hedgerows can function as important ecological infrastructures in agricultural landscapes by providing shelter, alternative prey, floral resources and overwintering sites for arthropods involved in natural pest regulation. This role is particularly relevant on oceanic islands, where agricultural mosaics include endemic, native non-endemic and introduced taxa, and where biodiversity-friendly production systems may contribute to both ecosystem-service provisioning and early detection of potentially invasive species. Under the scope of the BIODIVERSA+ COMCHA project, we sampled arthropod assemblages in six orchards certified under the Organic Production System on Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal, comparing the orchard interior with adjacent hedgerows. Sampling was carried out in September 2025 and May 2026 using standardised active methods: SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise), nocturnal Active Aerial Search, nocturnal foliage beating and diurnal foliage beating. The resulting dataset is structured as a Darwin Core Archive, with an Event table and an Occurrence table, and provides baseline information for evaluating the contribution of organic orchards and hedgerows to beneficial arthropod diversity and biological control research.</jats:p> <jats:p>We provide an inventory of arthropods collected in EU-certified organic orchards and surrounding hedgerows on Terceira Island, based on 46 sampling events in September 2025 and 36 sampling events in May 2026 (82 sampling events in total), distributed across six localities and two habitat types: Mixed Orchard and Mixed Hedges.</jats:p> <jats:p>During September 2025 and May 2026, a total of 15739 specimens were recorded in 1,863 occurrences records, representing four arthropod classes, 18 orders and 86 families.</jats:p> <jats:p>Of these specimens, 13854 were identified to species or subspecies level, corresponding to 196 distinct scientific names. Overall, the dataset includes 299 DTP morphospecies or taxonomic units.</jats:p> <jats:p> Among these specimens, 10596 specimens were recorded in 1300 occurrence records in September 2025, while 5,143 specimens were recorded in 563 occurrence records in May 2026. The identified species/subspecies include 11 endemic taxa, 57 native non-endemic taxa, 104 introduced taxa and 24 taxa of uncertain establishment status. In terms of abundance, native non-endemic taxa were dominant, followed by introduced, endemic and uncertain taxa. This dataset include four species that are new records for Terceira island: <jats:italic>Dipoena melanogaster</jats:italic> (C.L. Koch, 1837) (Araneae, Theridiidae), <jats:italic>Textrix pinicola</jats:italic> Simon, 1875 (Araneae, Agelenidae), <jats:italic>Stenocaecilius caboverdensis</jats:italic> (Meinander, 1966) (Psocodea, Caeciliusidae) and <jats:italic>Euconnus campestris campestris</jats:italic> (L.W. Schaufuss, 1866) (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). </jats:p> <jats:p>The dataset provides a first standardized baseline for comparing arthropod assemblages between orchard interiors and hedgerows in organic fruit-production systems on Terceira Island, supporting future assessments of biological control potential, habitat management, biosecurity surveillance and Nature-based Solutions in insular agroecosystems.</jats:p>