BeeMachine

BeeMachine identifies images of 100 of the most common bumble bee species from around the world. BeeMachine uses a convolutional neural network, modified from InceptionV3, and is trained on over 313,000 bumble bee images gathered mainly from Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Image data were also provided by Bumble Bee Watch, the Wisconsin Bumble Bee Brigade, the Hanamaru Maruhana Project, and Jerry Cole.

Overall test accuracy is 93.7% (> 99% top-3) but this varies by species depending on the number of training images and their level of morphological variability.

Species were nicely separated based on learned features.

Using BeeMachine

• For the most accurate results, crop your image as close to the bee as possible to reduce extraneous pixels

• Image quality helps with accuracy. Motion, poor focus, or if the bee is represented by too few pixels can reduce accuracy
• As with human-based IDs, it is always good to compare predictions from multiple images of the same individual
• The model outputs the 3 most likely species and associated probabilities. Based on the test data, the correct ID is given by the top prediction nearly 94% of the time and is in the top 3 predictions over 99% of the time

100 Bombus species recognized by BeeMachine

Species	Precision	Recall	F1-Score	Images
Bombus affinis	0.971	0.974	0.972	4,055
B. appositus	0.923	0.912	0.918	1,650
B. ardens	0.762	0.882	0.818	635
B. argillaceus	0.971	0.953	0.962	530
B. auricomus	0.957	0.953	0.955	6,845
B. barbutellus	0.913	0.750	0.824	140
B. beaticola	0.920	0.920	0.920	125
B. bellicosus	0.951	0.983	0.967	295
B. bicoloratus	0.917	0.917	0.917	180
B. bifarius	0.731	0.679	0.704	280
B. bimaculatus	0.944	0.938	0.941	15,705
B. bohemicus	0.848	0.854	0.851	685
B. borealis	0.956	0.967	0.961	5,980
B. californicus	0.854	0.904	0.878	4,015
B. caliginosus	0.567	0.667	0.613	255
B. campestris	0.932	0.955	0.944	1,010
B. centralis	0.855	0.876	0.865	2,655
B. citrinus	0.944	0.966	0.955	4,880
B. confusus	1.000	0.875	0.933	120
B. consobrinus	0.936	0.916	0.926	475
B. crotchii	0.969	0.936	0.952	1,480
B. cryptarum	0.853	0.835	0.844	1,150
B. dahlbomii	0.952	1.000	0.975	590
B. deuteronymus	0.796	0.956	0.869	225
B. distinguendus	0.924	0.901	0.913	405
B. diversus	0.973	0.954	0.963	755
B. ephippiatus	0.945	0.953	0.949	1,170
B. eximius	0.900	0.833	0.865	270
B. fervidus	0.950	0.948	0.949	8,205
B. flavidus	0.869	0.893	0.881	2,150
B. flavifrons	0.878	0.869	0.873	6,765
B. fraternus	0.970	0.960	0.965	1,365
B. frigidus	0.786	0.786	0.786	350
B. funebris	0.964	0.971	0.967	680
B. griseocollis	0.958	0.958	0.958	15,315
B. haematurus	0.938	0.833	0.882	180
B. honshuensis	0.897	0.972	0.933	180
B. hortorum	0.906	0.918	0.912	2,320
B. hortulanus	0.932	0.885	0.908	390
B. humilis	0.886	0.853	0.869	1,225
B. huntii	0.931	0.927	0.929	7,115
B. hypnorum	0.965	0.970	0.968	9,050
B. hypocrita	0.930	0.855	0.891	310
B. ignitus	0.731	0.814	0.770	350
B. impatiens	0.959	0.961	0.960	15,810
B. insularis	0.877	0.892	0.884	2,035
B. jonellus	0.833	0.833	0.833	390
B. kirbiellus	0.917	0.611	0.733	90
B. lapidarius	0.969	0.963	0.966	9,575
B. lapponicus	0.882	0.790	0.833	95
B. lucorum	0.667	0.775	0.717	1,930
B. medius	0.822	0.917	0.867	480
B. melanopygus	0.964	0.957	0.960	14,755
B. mesomelas	1.000	0.833	0.909	90
B. mexicanus	0.824	0.875	0.849	80
B. mixtus	0.907	0.913	0.910	6,750
B. monticola	0.885	0.885	0.885	260
B. morio	0.813	0.722	0.765	90
B. morrisoni	0.856	0.902	0.878	560
B. muscorum	0.867	0.844	0.855	385
B. nevadensis	0.948	0.951	0.949	4,180
B. occidentalis	0.883	0.938	0.910	2,020
B. opifex	0.957	0.917	0.936	360
B. pascuorum	0.977	0.971	0.974	15,995
B. patagiatus	1.000	0.839	0.912	155
B. pauloensis	0.873	0.885	0.879	1,170
B. pensylvanicus	0.964	0.967	0.966	17,125
B. perplexus	0.927	0.947	0.937	7,755
B. pratorum	0.962	0.958	0.960	5,995
B. pullatus	0.737	0.667	0.700	105
B. pyrosoma	1.000	1.000	1.000	105
B. quadricolor	0.950	0.905	0.927	105
B. robustus	0.906	0.926	0.916	470
B. rubicundus	0.973	0.961	0.967	380
B. ruderarius	0.683	0.820	0.746	250
B. ruderatus	0.823	0.799	0.811	670
B. rufocinctus	0.922	0.883	0.902	11,170
B. rupestris	0.904	0.920	0.912	1,435
B. sandersoni	0.700	0.549	0.615	255
B. schrencki	0.851	0.851	0.851	470
B. semenoviellus	0.929	0.897	0.912	145
B. sichelii	0.771	0.818	0.794	165
B. sitkensis	0.755	0.800	0.777	1,350
B. soroeensis	0.796	0.729	0.761	295
B. sporadicus	0.864	0.864	0.864	110
B. subterraneus	0.889	0.903	0.896	310
B. sylvarum	0.953	0.953	0.953	1,610
B. sylvestris	0.849	0.718	0.778	195
B. sylvicola	0.721	0.769	0.744	520
B. ternarius	0.968	0.958	0.963	17,775
B. terrestris	0.953	0.920	0.936	14,445
B. terricola	0.967	0.968	0.967	6,250
B. vagans	0.859	0.908	0.883	6,530
B. vancouverensis	0.941	0.941	0.941	7,860
B. vandykei	0.814	0.871	0.842	1,435
B. vestalis	0.905	0.971	0.937	1,035
B. veteranus	0.833	0.909	0.870	330
B. vosnesenskii	0.965	0.950	0.958	15,690
B. wilmattae	0.929	0.765	0.839	85
B. wurflenii	0.857	0.621	0.720	145

Collaborators & Acknowledgements

• Claudio Gratton, University of Wisconsin – Madison
• Rich Hatfield, The Xerces Society
• William Hsu, Kansas State University
• Sarena Jepsen, The Xerces Society
• Brian McCornack, Kansas State University
• Krushi Patel, University of Kansas
• Richard Wang, University of Kansas