About BeeMachine
BeeMachine was developed by Brian Spiesman in collaboration with:
Claudio Gratton, University of Wisconsin - Madison
William Hsu, Kansas State University
Brian McCornack Kansas State University
Web and mobile app development by Germinate
Support
BeeMachine was funded by USDA NIFA, the National Science Foundation, and Kansas State University. Computer vision models were developed with open data from the Global Biodiversity Infrastructure Facility (GBIF), our own imaging efforts, and data contributed by community science projects including the Wisconsin Bumble Bee Brigade, the Hanamaru Maruhana Project , and the Vi Un Abejorro (I Saw a Bumble Bee) project. We are grateful to the organizers and volunteer participants of these programs that share their images and taxonomic expertise. Images were also provided by Jerry Cole and from ongoing collaborations with the KU Biodiversity Institue and Natural History Museum and the USDA ARS Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Unit.
Our Computer Vision Model
BeeMachine is able to identify bee species from around the world. But if it isn't sure about the species it will give a genus-level prediction. Because flowers are often visited by other kinds of insects that can sometimes be confused with bees, we now include the ability to differentiate bees from wasps, flies, beetles, and butterflies/moths. Overall test accuracy on the current algorithm is 93.7% (99.4% top-3) but this varies by species depending on the number of training images and their level of morphological variability (see figures below). BeeMachine uses a convolutional neural network, modified from EfficientNetV2, and was trained on over 1.2 million images.
Learned Features
Neural networks learn their own set of features in images to differentiate species. Each point in this visualization represents a test image. Images with similar learned features are close together, forming clusters that correspond well with species. Thus learned features parallel real life qualities that we use to differentiate species.
Model Precision
The number of training images per species is important! More images per species means we can cover a larger range of variability in lighting, pose, background context, and variability in appearance, which increases the likelihood of a correct prediction. In this figure each point represents a different species. We can use this information to target particular species for acquiring more images to improve the classification model.
BeeMachine can recognize 354 kinds of flower visiting insects. This includes 221 bee species, 128 bee genera, and other kinds of insects like wasps, flies, hoverflies, beetles, and butterflies/moths.
Acamptopoeum sp.
Alloscirtetica sp.
Andrena sp.
Andrena clarkella
Andrena erigeniae
Andrena haemorrhoa
Andrena nigroaenea
Andrena vaga
Anthidium sp.
Anthidium oblongatum
Anthophora abrupta
Anthophora furcata
Anthophora retusa
Anthophorula sp.
Apis florea
Augochlora sp.
Bombus affinis
Bombus argillaceus
Bombus baltatus
Bombus bicoloratus
Bombus borealis
Bombus campestris
Bombus coccineus
Bombus cryptarum
Bombus distinguendus
Bombus fervidus
Bombus fragrans
Bombus griseocollis
Bombus hortorum
Bombus hyperboreus
Bombus impatiens
Bombus koreanus
Bombus lucorum
Bombus melanopygus
Bombus mixtus
Bombus morrisoni
Bombus norvegicus
Bombus pascuorum
Bombus perplexus
Bombus pullatus
Bombus quadricolor
Bombus ruderatus
Bombus semenoviellus
Bombus soroeensis
Bombus sylvarum
Bombus terrestris
Bombus vagans/sandersoni
Bombus veteranus
Bombus wilmattae
Braunsapis sp.
Camptopoeum sp.
Ceylalictus sp.
Coleoptera sp.
Colletes inaequalis
Diadasia sp.
Diphaglossa gayi
Epeolus sp.
Eucera sp.
Eulaema sp.
Exoneura sp.
Habropoda sp.
Halictus scabiosae
Holcopasites sp.
Hylaeus modestus
Leioproctus sp.
Lithurgus sp.
Megachile sp.
Megachile pugnata
Melecta sp.
Melissodes desponsus
Melitturga sp.
Micralictoides sp.
Nomia sp.
Osmia bicolor
Osmia lignaria
Palaeorhiza sp.
Paranthidium sp.
Peponapis sp.
Protoxaea sp.
Pseudopanurgus sp.
Rophites sp.
Stelis sp.
Systropha sp.
Thygater sp.
Triepeolus sp.
Xylocopa augusti
Xylocopa latipes
Xylocopa tabaniformis
Zacosmia maculata
Agapostemon sp.
Amegilla sp.
Andrena barbilabris
Andrena denticulata
Andrena flavipes
Andrena hattorfiana
Andrena nitida
Andrena ventralis
Anthidium florentinum
Anthidium punctatum
Anthophora bimaculata
Anthophora pacifica
Anthophora terminalis
Apis sp.
Apis laboriosa
Augochlorella sp.
Bombus alpinus
Bombus asiaticus
Bombus barbutellus
Bombus bifarius
Bombus brasiliensis
Bombus centralis
Bombus confusus
Bombus cullumanus
Bombus diversus
Bombus flavidus
Bombus fraternus
Bombus haematurus
Bombus hortulanus
Bombus hypnorum
Bombus insularis
Bombus laesus
Bombus magnus
Bombus melanurus
Bombus modestus
Bombus muscorum
Bombus occidentalis
Bombus patagiatus
Bombus picipes
Bombus pyrenaeus
Bombus robustus
Bombus rufocinctus
Bombus sichelii
Bombus sporadicus
Bombus sylvestris
Bombus terricola
Bombus vancouverensis
Bombus volucelloides
Bombus wurflenii
Cadeguala sp.
Caupolicana sp.
Chalepogenus sp.
Colletes sp.
Corynura sp.
Dianthidium sp.
Diptera sp.
Epicharis sp.
Eufriesea sp.
Euryglossa sp.
Exoneuridia sp.
Halictus sp.
Halictus tripartitus
Hoplitis sp.
Hyleoides sp.
Lepidoptera sp.
Macropis sp.
Megachile ericetorum
Megachile sculpturalis
Meliponini sp.
Melissoptila sp.
Mellitidia sp.
Nomada sp.
Nomioides sp.
Osmia bicornis
Othinosmia sp.
Panurginus sp.
Paratetrapedia sp.
Perdita sp.
Pseudapis sp.
Ptiloglossa sp.
Ruizantheda sp.
Svastra sp.
Tetralonia sp.
Thyreus sp.
Wasp Xenoglossa sp.
Xylocopa caffra
Xylocopa micans
Xylocopa tenuiscapa
Agapostemon splendens
Amphylaeus sp.
Andrena bicolor
Andrena dorsata
Andrena florea
Andrena hirticincta
Andrena nubecula
Andrena wilkella
Anthidium maculosum
Anthidium septemspinosum
Anthophora bomboides
Anthophora plumipes
Anthophora urbana
Apis cerana
Apis mellifera
Augochloropsis sp.
Bombus appositus
Bombus atripes
Bombus beaticola
Bombus bimaculatus
Bombus californicus
Bombus cingulatus
Bombus consobrinus
Bombus dahlbomii
Bombus ephippiatus
Bombus flavifrons
Bombus frigidus
Bombus hedini
Bombus humilis
Bombus hypocrita
Bombus jonellus
Bombus lapidarius
Bombus mckayi
Bombus mesomelas
Bombus monticola
Bombus nevadensis
Bombus opifex
Bombus pauloensis
Bombus pratorum
Bombus pyrosoma
Bombus rubicundus
Bombus rupestris
Bombus sitkensis
Bombus steindachneri
Bombus sylvicola
Bombus transversalis
Bombus vandykei
Bombus vosnesenskii
Bombus zonatus
Calliopsis sp.
Centris sp.
Chelostoma sp.
Colletes cunicularius
Dasypoda sp.
Dieunomia sp.
Dufourea sp. E
Ericrocis sp.
Euglossa sp.
Exaerete sp.
Florilegus sp.
Halictus ligatus
Heriades sp.
Hylaeus sp.
Icteranthidium sp.
Lipotriches sp.
Macrotera sp.
Megachile latimanus
Megachile xylocopoides
Melissodes sp.
Melitoma sp.
Meroglossa sp.
Nomada goodeniana
Notanthidium sp.
Osmia caerulescens
Oxaea sp.
Panurgus sp.
Pasites sp.
Protandrena sp.
Pseudaugochlora sp.
Ptilothrix sp.
Scrapter sp.
Syntrichalonia sp.
Tetraloniella sp.
Trachusa sp.
Xylocopa sp.
Xylocopa californica
Xylocopa pubescens
Xylocopa violacea
Agapostemon virescens
Ancylandrena sp.
Andrena cineraria
Andrena dunningi
Andrena fulva
Andrena milwaukeensis
Andrena prunorum
Anthidiellum sp.
Anthidium manicatum
Anthophora sp.
Anthophora californica
Anthophora quadrimaculata
Anthophora villosula
Apis dorsata
Ashmeadiella sp.
Bombus sp.
Bombus ardens
Bombus auricomus
Bombus bellicosus
Bombus bohemicus
Bombus caliginosus
Bombus citrinus
Bombus crotchii
Bombus deuteronymus
Bombus eximius
Bombus formosellus
Bombus funebris
Bombus honshuensis
Bombus huntii
Bombus ignitus
Bombus kirbiellus
Bombus lapponicus
Bombus medius
Bombus mexicanus
Bombus morio
Bombus niveatus
Bombus opulentus
Bombus pensylvanicus
Bombus pseudobaicalensis
Bombus pyrrhopygus
Bombus ruderarius
Bombus schrencki
Bombus sonani
Bombus subterraneus
Bombus ternarius
Bombus ussurensis
Bombus vestalis
Bombus weisi
Brachymelecta sp.
Callomelitta sp.
Ceratina sp.
Coelioxys sp.
Colletes hederae
Dasypoda hirtipes
Dioxys sp.
peoloides sp.
Euaspis sp.
Euhesma sp.
Exomalopsis sp.
Gaesischia sp.
Halictus rubicundus
Hesperapis sp.
Hylaeus leptocephalus
Lasioglossum sp.
Lithurgopsis sp.
Manuelia sp.
Megachile perihirta
Megandrena sp.
Melissodes bimaculatus
Melitta sp.
Mesocheira bicolor
Nomada lathburiana
Osmia sp.
Osmia cornuta
Pachyprosopis sp.
Paragapostemon coelestinus
Patellapis sp.
Protosmia sp.
Pseudoanthidium sp.
Rhodanthidium sp.
Sphecodes sp.
Syrphidae sp.
Thalestria sp.
Trichocolletes sp.
Xylocopa aestuans
Xylocopa flavorufa
Xylocopa sonorina
Xylocopa virginica