1 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
2 Concordia University, Montreal, Canada Concordia University Montreal Canada.
3 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) Madrid Spain.
4 Universidad de Oviedo, Asturias, Spain Universidad de Oviedo Asturias Spain.
5 Dept. Biogeography & Global Change, BEI-MNCN-CSIC, Madrid, Spain Dept. Biogeography & Global Change, BEI-MNCN-CSIC Madrid Spain.
6 Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil Universidade Federal de Goiás Goiânia Brazil.
7 Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal.
8 Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, United States of America Western Carolina Unive

Background: We compiled a database of firefly species records from the Atlantic Forest hotspot in Brazil and made it available at GBIF. Data were gathered from literature and from several key entomological collections, including: Coleção entomológica Prof. José Alfredo Pinheiro Dutra (DZRJ/UFRJ) and Coleção do Laboratório de Ecologia de Insetos from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (CLEI/UFRJ); Coleção Entomológica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (CEIOC); Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZSP); Coleção Entomológica Pe. Jesus Santiago Moure from Universidade Federal do Paraná (DZUP/UFPR); and Coleção Entomológica from Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE). This database represents the largest contribution to a public repository of recorded occurrences from Neotropical fireflies.

New information: This dataset shows the occurrence and abundance of firefly species in the Atlantic Forest hotspot. Firefly species endemic to this biome are also present and considered in the study. These data can assist scientific and societal needs, by supporting future research projects and conservation decision-making.