# A multi-modal dataset for insect biodiversity with imagery and DNA at the trap and individual level

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.06972 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06972/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 63 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Jul 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [Microsoft COCO: Common Objects in Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.0312/) (2014)
- [Segment Anything](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02643/) (2023)
- [Mask R-CNN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.06870/) (2017)
- [EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11946/) (2019)
- [Grounding DINO: Marrying DINO with Grounded Pre-Training for Open-Set Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.05499/) (2023)
- [SAM 2: Segment Anything in Images and Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00714/) (2024)
- [Masked-attention Mask Transformer for Universal Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01527/) (2021)
- [Grounded SAM: Assembling Open-World Models for Diverse Visual Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14159/) (2024)
- [Florence-2: Advancing a Unified Representation for a Variety of Vision Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.06242/) (2023)
- [Mask DINO: Towards A Unified Transformer-based Framework for Object Detection and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.02777/) (2022)
- [Object Detection in Aerial Images: A Large-Scale Benchmark and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12219/) (2021)
- [Super-Convergence: Very Fast Training of Neural Networks Using Large Learning Rates](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.07120/) (2017)
- [iSAID: A Large-scale Dataset for Instance Segmentation in Aerial Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.12886/) (2019)
- [Cut and Learn for Unsupervised Object Detection and Instance Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11320/) (2023)
- [OW-DETR: Open-world Detection Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01513/) (2021)
- [Transformer-Based Visual Segmentation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.09854/) (2023)
- [Slicing Aided Hyper Inference and Fine-tuning for Small Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.06934/) (2022)
- [A Step Towards Worldwide Biodiversity Assessment: The BIOSCAN-1M Insect Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10455/) (2023)
- [BIOSCAN-5M: A Multimodal Dataset for Insect Biodiversity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.12723/) (2024)
- [Object Detection with Transformers: A Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.04670/) (2023)
- [CLIBD: Bridging Vision and Genomics for Biodiversity Monitoring at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17537/) (2024)
- [Transformers in Small Object Detection: A Benchmark and Survey of State-of-the-Art](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.04902/) (2023)
- [BOLD v4: A Centralized Bioinformatics Platform for DNA-based Biodiversity Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.05696/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [BioAutoML-NAS: An End-to-End AutoML Framework for Multimodal Insect Classification via Neural Architecture Search on Large-Scale Biodiversity Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.05888/) (2025)
- [A continental-scale dataset of ground beetles with high-resolution images and validated morphological trait measurements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10687/) (2026)
- [Colour Extraction Pipeline for Odonates using Computer Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.18725/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Insects comprise millions of species, many experiencing severe population declines under environmental and habitat changes. High-throughput approaches are crucial for accelerating our understanding of insect diversity, with DNA barcoding and high-resolution imaging showing strong potential for automatic taxonomic classification. However, most image-based approaches rely on individual specimen data, unlike the unsorted bulk samples collected in large-scale ecological surveys. We present the Mixed Arthropod Sample Segmentation and Identification (MassID45) dataset for training automatic classifiers of bulk insect samples. It uniquely combines molecular and imaging data at both the unsorted sample level and the full set of individual specimens. Human annotators, supported by an AI-assisted tool, performed two tasks on bulk images: creating segmentation masks around each individual arthropod and assigning taxonomic labels to over 17 000 specimens. Combining the taxonomic resolution of DNA barcodes with precise abundance estimates of bulk images holds great potential for rapid, large-scale characterization of insect communities. This dataset pushes the boundaries of tiny object detection and instance segmentation, fostering innovation in both ecological and machine learning research.