Aotearoa Species Classifier

This app applies a neural network model to identify species present in photos. The neural network has been trained on images collected in New Zealand via iNaturalist. Classification of species is performed on-device.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This app cannot reliably identify invasive species that were not included in its training data — for example, the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina). If such a species is submitted, the app may either:

• Refuse classification with a message like “Confidence too low”


• Misclassify the specimen as a similar-looking species with low or moderate confidence

For instance, an Asian hornet may be incorrectly identified as a Common European Yellowjacket (Vespula vulgaris), German Yellowjacket (Vespula germanica), or Australian Paper Wasp (Polistes humilis), with a confidence score between 40% and 80%.

Training Data Cutoff:

No observations uploaded to iNaturalist after 30 August 2023 were used to train the model.