Cambridge Butterfly Wing Photographs from Andean Hybrid Zones, 2009-2018

Photographs of butterfly wings taken by Eva Whiltshire at the University of Cambridge's Butterfly Genetics Group between October 2017 and March 2018. The collection includes specimens from wild collections across H. m. plesseni/malleti and H. e. notabilits/lativitta hybrid zones on the Eastern slope of the Andes, collected from 2009 to 2011. Individual sample information is available via a public Earthcape database, and the dataset is a second version with labeling errors fixed.

Use Cases

• Train computer vision models for species or subspecies classification based on wing pattern photographs.
• Analyze morphological variation and hybridization patterns across described Andean hybrid zones.
• Conduct phenomic studies linking wing imagery to genetic data available in the associated Earthcape database.

Strengths

• Photographs were taken over a defined period from October 2017 to March 2018.
• Includes specimens from specific, documented hybrid zones in the Andes collected between 2009 and 2011.
• This is a second version with labeling errors corrected, suggesting quality improvements.
• Individual samples are linked to a public database (Earthcape) for additional metadata.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML projects.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific collection sites in the Andes.

Provenance

Source

Butterfly Genetics Group, University of Cambridge.

Collection Method

Photographs taken of physical specimen collections.

Time Range

Specimen collection: 2009-2011. Photography: October 2017 - March 2018.

Geography

Eastern slope of the Andes, including Mocoa (Colombia) and Napo and Pichincha provinces (Ecuador).