DATA PAPER INTRODUCTION Copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) are widespread in freshwater and marine environments worldwide (Boxshall and Defaye, 2008), and they play a significant role in meiobenthic trophic webs (Schmid-Araya and Schmid, 2000). In lakes, benthic copepods are distinctive for their key ecological roles as deposit-feeders (mainly harpacti- coids; Sarvala, 1998), selective grazers of microbial biofilm and diatoms (both harpacticoids and cyclopoids; Rollwa- gen-Bollens et al., 2013; Leitão et al., 2018), and predators (mainly cyclopoids; Sarvala, 1998; Muschiol et al., 2008). Benthic copepod species inhabiting lake littorals may serve as an excellent model taxon for investigating the ecological risk of human-induced water level fluctuations (Cifoni et al., 2022). For example, benthic harpacticoids are less abundant during low water levels when they show avoid- ance reactions to increasing wave action (Foy and Thistle, 1991). In contrast, generalist copepod species, such as om- nivores, deposit-feeders and opportunists, are abundant dur- ing low water levels because they can withstand disturbance and even thrive in it (Cifoni et al., 2022). Yet, there is still little knowledge readily available about the ecology of lake meiobenthic metazoans, particularly of copepods (Cifoni et al., 2021), especially when it comes to lentic water bodies under human-induced water level fluc- Dataset of benthic copepods in the littoral zones of Lake Maggiore Agostina Tabilio Di Camillo, 1,2 Angela Boggero, 3 Diana Maria Paola Galassi, 2 Lyudmila Kamburska, 3,4 Barbara Fiasca, 2 Tiziana Di Lorenzo 1,4* 1 National Research Council, Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (CNR-IRET), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI); 2 Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio I, 67100, L’Aquila; 3 National Research Council, Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), Corso Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania Pallanza; 4 National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), 90133 Palermo, Italy ABSTRACT Copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) are widespread in aquatic ecosystems worldwide and represent an important component of the meiobenthic metazoan assemblages of lake littorals. Yet, little is currently known about the diversity of benthic copepods in lentic habitats. We gathered information on the benthic copepod assemblages of the littoral zone of Lake Maggiore as part of the Interreg Italy-Switzerland 2014-2020 Parchi Verbano Ticino project (ID: 481668), funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Lake Maggiore is a large and deep temperate lake in north-western Italy human-managed from mid-March to mid-September. This contributes to substantial changes in water levels in relation to human activities such as hydropower, industrial and agricultural uses. We compiled a dataset listing 234 occurrences of benthic copepod species recorded from three littoral sampling sites situated in three protected areas, two of which are part of the Natura 2000 network in Italy and one is part of the Emerald Network in Switzerland. We collected the specimens during the summer-autumn period in 2019-2021. We identified the copepods to the species level level and created a dataset with individual georefer- enced occurrence records for each species, organized in a standardized Darwin Core Archive format. We made available, through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a total of 13 distinct taxonomic entities and 234 unique georeferenced occurrence records related to the benthic copepod assemblages of the littoral zone of Lake Maggiore. The dataset has the potential to support the authorities in charge of managing Lake Maggiore’s water levels in addressing the ecological risk relevant to the littoral zone and in developing shared imple- mentation strategies for sustainable water management. Corresponding author: tiziana.dilorenzo@cnr.it Key words: Crustacea; meiobenthic fauna; lentic waters; Harpacti- coida; Cyclopoida; GBIF. Citation: Tabilio Di Camillo A, Boggero A, Galassi DMP, et al. Dataset of benthic copepods in the littoral zones of Lake Maggiore. J. Limnol. 2022;82:2130. Edited by: Michela Rogora, National Research Council, Water Re- search Institute (CNR-IRSA), Verbania Pallanza, Italy. Conflict of interest: the authors declare no conflict of interest. Received: 24 February 2023. Accepted: 15 May 2023. Publisher’s note: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affili- ated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the re- viewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. © Copyright: the Author(s), 2023 Licensee PAGEPress, Italy J. Limnol., 2022; 81(s2):2130 DOI: 10.4081/jlimnol.2022.2130 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non- Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Non-commercial use only