Towards a Taxonomy Machine: A Training Set of 5.6 Million Arthropod Images

Dirk Steinke (), Sujeevan Ratnasingham, Jireh Agda, Hamzah Ait Boutou, Isaiah C. H. Box, Mary Boyle, Dean Chan, Corey Feng, Scott C. Lowe, Jaclyn T. A. McKeown, Joschka McLeod, Alan Sanchez, Ian Smith, Spencer Walker, Catherine Y.-Y. Wei and Paul D. N. Hebert
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Dirk Steinke: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Sujeevan Ratnasingham: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Jireh Agda: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Hamzah Ait Boutou: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Isaiah C. H. Box: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Mary Boyle: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Dean Chan: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Corey Feng: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Scott C. Lowe: Vector Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
Jaclyn T. A. McKeown: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Joschka McLeod: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Alan Sanchez: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Ian Smith: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Spencer Walker: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Catherine Y.-Y. Wei: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Paul D. N. Hebert: Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Data, 2024, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-8

Abstract: The taxonomic identification of organisms from images is an active research area within the machine learning community. Current algorithms are very effective for object recognition and discrimination, but they require extensive training datasets to generate reliable assignments. This study releases 5.6 million images with representatives from 10 arthropod classes and 26 insect orders. All images were taken using a Keyence VHX-7000 Digital Microscope system with an automatic stage to permit high-resolution (4K) microphotography. Providing phenotypic data for 324,000 species derived from 48 countries, this release represents, by far, the largest dataset of standardized arthropod images. As such, this dataset is well suited for testing the efficacy of machine learning algorithms for identifying specimens into higher taxonomic categories.

Keywords: insects; machine learning; object recognition; image-based classification; biodiversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 C80 C81 C82 C83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
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