LepNet is a project to digitize over 1.7 million specimen records of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) from North America. It aims to image over 214,000 specimens to create species exemplars representing at least 60% of known North American Lepidoptera species. An additional goal is to create a smartphone app called LepSnap to allow volunteers to image additional specimens and add over 160,000 images to the database. The project is facilitated by Symbiota and aims to create a large, openly accessible database to facilitate research on the evolution and ecology of Lepidoptera.

1. Introducing LepNet –
the Lepidoptera of North America Network
Please
@taxonbytes
Nico Franz1 & Anne Basham1
Neil Cobb2 & Benjamin Brandt2
1 School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University
2 Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University
TDWG 2016 – Biodiversity Information Standards
December 09, 2016 – Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (#TDWG16)
@ http://www.slideshare.net/taxonbytes/Franz-et-al-tdwg-2016-introducing-lepnet

2. http://symbiota4.acis.ufl.edu/scan/lepnet/portal/

3. Project Goals
1,704,161 Total specimen records
214,705 Total specimens imaged
(1) Digitize 1.7 million adult specimens and 33,524
larval vial records, integrate >1 million existing
lepidopteran records, totaling 2.7 million
occurrence records.
(2) Produce high-resolution species exemplar
images for 81,000 specimens representing at least
60% of the 14,300+ North American Lepidoptera
species.
(3) (LepSnap) computer identification and
smartphone application for researcher volunteers
to image cataloged specimens and add >160,000
images beyond the high-resolution species
exemplars.

4. 0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
#ofRecordsindatabase
(100softhousands)
2014 2015 2016
Funding Preparation Period Funding Period
SCAN as a facilitator

5. "LepNet-based data will
facilitate comparative studies
of the evolution and ecology of
Lepidoptera"

6. 80% of butterflies
70% of large moths (macros)
55% of small moths (micros)
LepSnap : Automated Identification of Taxa
6,870 North American species
Huge Potential for Identification from Images
• Engage & Augment Human experts
• Connect with citizen scientists in the
museum and the field (observations)
• How many Lepidoptera can be identified?
LepSnap

7. LepXplor Education-Outreach Program

8. LepNet 2016-2017: Identifying ConnectionsBroader Vision: Lepidoptera as Model for
Global Biodiversity Collaborative