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README.md

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+# IndoLepAtlas — Data Card
+
+## Dataset Summary
+
+IndoLepAtlas is a computer vision dataset of Indian butterflies, moths, and their larval host plants. It captures the diversity of Indian Lepidoptera across ~1,094 species with images sourced from ifoundbutterflies.org.
+
+**Inspired by:** iNaturalist  
+**Domain:** Indian Wildlife & Biodiversity (CSE3292 §3.6)
+
+## Source
+
+- **Website:** [ifoundbutterflies.org](https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/)
+- **License:** Images are publicly available; photographer credits preserved
+- **Collection method:** Automated scraping with respectful rate limiting
+
+## Dataset Composition
+
+### Butterflies (~967 species)
+- Adult/Unknown life stage photographs
+- Early stage (caterpillar, pupa) photographs
+- Per-image metadata: species, common name, sex, location, date, credit
+- Taxonomic hierarchy: Order → Superfamily → Family → Subfamily → Tribe → Genus → Species
+
+### Host Plants (~127 species)
+- Hero images and gallery photographs
+- Per-image metadata: species, family, location, date, credit
+- Cross-referenced with butterfly species they host
+
+## Geographic Coverage
+
+Images span all major Indian states with concentration in:
+- Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra (Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot)
+- Northeast India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya)
+- Andaman & Nicobar Islands
+
+## Annotation Process
+
+1. **Auto-trimming:** Image overlays (text labels) removed via fixed-percentage cropping
+2. **Auto-detection:** Bounding boxes generated using Grounding DINO (zero-shot object detection)
+3. **Classification:** Species labels from source website taxonomy
+4. **Metadata enrichment:** OCR extraction of overlay text (location, date, credit, media code)
+
+## Known Limitations
+
+- Some species have very few images (long-tailed distribution)
+- OCR may fail on low-quality or unusually formatted overlays → null fields
+- Bounding boxes are auto-generated, not manually verified
+- Geographic bias toward well-surveyed regions (Western Ghats, Northeast)
+
+## Ethical Considerations
+
+- No human subjects or personal information
+- Source is a public biodiversity documentation platform
+- Photographer attribution maintained via OCR extraction
+- Dataset does not include sensitive or endangered species location details