Design and application of smart phone App system for butterflies identification based on Unity 3D technology of Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve

The real-time identification of species in the air during biodiversity monitoring places significant demands on researchers. To enhance accuracy, timeliness, and user experience in identifying butterfly species in the field, it’s crucial to prevent misidentifications and address the challenges users face with reference books and data queries. An app for identifying butterfly species was developed and released using Unity 3D technology, with C# as the programming language. The model was constructed based on 3D technology in Photoshop, utilizing butterfly specimens from Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province. The results showed that the App’s butterfly species identification and query functions were realized through the page interaction of the software. Upon clicking the program, users enter the main interface, which features a brief introduction to Xinglong Mountain, Xinglong Mountain butterfly species, a map of Xinglong Mountain, weather updates for the area, and additional applications. Notably, butterfly morphology is showcased using 3D technology. Users can select corresponding functions according to their requirements. After preliminary testing, this butterfly identification App has greatly improved the convenience and rapidity of users in the process of identifying species. It also provided technical support for researchers and reserve staff to monitor biodiversity and improved the accuracy of butterfly identification in the field. This could lay a foundation for further research and development of butterfly identification apps that use other computation languages and identifying butterfly species in a broader research area.