philodryas/Coral_snake_mimicry_FUNED_photos

Dataset Card for Coral Snake Mimicry specimens from FUNED

This dataset comprises images of snake specimens belonging to species within the coral snake mimicry complex from the Fundacao Ezequiel Dias (FUNED) in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. Images of museum specimens were taken with a Nikon camera and a standardized color palette, but white balance has not been corrected on these images. This dataset is a small representation of a larger dataset collected by Andressa Viol for her PhD dissertation.

Dataset Details

These images were taken by Andressa Viol in November 2024 during a trip to the FUNED snake collection in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. The intention was to photograph a large sample of the species in that collection belonging to the coral snake mimicry complex, defined as all coral snakes and their putative mimics. Species selection was based on Davis Rabosky et al. 2016 (doi: 10.1038/ncomms11484), and was determined by including any Neotropical snake with red and black coloration.

Dataset Structure

Data Instances

This dataset was curated as an example set of snake species belonging to the coral snake mimicry complex, for use at FuncaPalooza.

In total, 182 specimens were photographed across 30 species. For more common species, more than one specimen was photographed. All photographed specimens are represented in two photographs, one of the dorsal and one of the ventral surface of the specimen. Spatial information about specimens is not currently available.

All images are JPGs named with the structure "FUNED_[specimen number][Genus][species]_[Raw Camera File number].JPG". This information has been split and organized in an associated metadata file included in the dataset files, titled "metadata_FUNED_full.csv."

No white balance or color correction has been applied to these photos.

Data Fields

The metadata file metadata_FUNED_full.csv contains the following columns:

• specimen_id: Int. ID of specimen in the collection (ID provided by FUNED).
• filename: String. Image filename FUNED_<specimen_id>_<genus>_<species>_<camera_filename>.JPG.
• collection: String. Name of natural history collection (all FUNED).
• view: String. Position of snake (dorsal, ventral, or side). "dorsal" indicates the image was taken of the snake's back, while "ventral" means the image was taken with the snake lying belly-up, and "side" is a lateral view including both the dorsal and ventral scales.
• mimicry_status: String. Category of mimicry defined based on subjective evaluation of mimetic precision for average species phenotype (by Viol). Contains values mimic, model, and bad mimic.
• genus: String. Genus to which the specimen belongs, classification provided by the collection.
• specific_epithet: String. Species (specific epithet) to which the specimen belongs, classification provided by the collection.
• sci_name: String. <Genus> <specific epithet>.
• image_date: String. Date image was taken (MM/DD/YYYY).
• filepath: String. Relative path to the image from the data folder (images/A-snake-photos/<filename>).
• camera_filename: String. Name of the photo file, default from camera.
• md5: MD5 hash of the image. Generated using sum-buddy.
• notes: String. Relevant notes about photography or specimen (not all full). May also included subspecies information where available (venustissimus is the only subspecies listed).

Dataset Creation

Curation Rationale

This dataset is a subset of a larger dataset of specimens of species belonging to the coral snake mimicry complex accessioned in Brazilian natural history collections. This dataset was collected to understand the existing variation in color and pattern in the biodiversity hotspot of the coral snake mimicry complex.

Source Data

These images were taken by Andressa Viol from specimens collected around the region of Belo Horizonte for her PhD dissertation.

Data Collection Methods

Specimens were selected based first on whether or not the species belonged to the coral snake mimicry complex (as defined above), and second on overall specimen condition, including minimizing color fading and overlapping body parts. Specimens were photographed with a Nikon D7000 DSLR camera (Nikon Inc., Melville, NY, USA) with full-spectrum conversion (LifePixel; Mukilteo, USA). Both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of each specimen were photographed with a Baader (Mammendorf, Germany) UV/IR cut filter, and F-stops, shutter speeds, and ISO were adjusted for optimal color balance. Specimens were photographed against a blue background, along with a 40% grey reflectance standard (Labsphere; North Sutton, USA), a color checker passport (Calibrate; New York, USA), and a 50 mm scale bar.

The raw photographs have not been processed.

Bias, Risks, and Limitations**

This dataset is a representative sample of the relevant species, and are spatially limited to specimens collected around the area of Belo Horizonte. Additionally, specimens do not have spatial information associated with them.

Licensing Information**

CC0: This dataset is dedicated to the public domain for the benefit of scientific pursuits. We ask that you cite the dataset and journal paper using the below citation if you make use of it in your research.

Citation

@misc{Viol2025coral_snake_mimicry,
  author       = {Andressa Viol},
  title        = {Coral Snake Mimicry specimens from FUNED},
  year         = {2025},
  publisher    = {Hugging Face},
  url          = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/philodryas/Coral_snake_mimicry_FUNED_photos}
}

Acknowledgements

Funding for dataset collection was provided by the University of Michigan International Institute. Additional support was provided by the Imageomics Institute, which is funded by the US National Science Foundation's Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) program under Award #2118240 (Imageomics: A New Frontier of Biological Information Powered by Knowledge-Guided Machine Learning). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Dataset Card Authors Andressa Viol, PhD candidate, University of Michigan