title: Quantifying Human Visible Color Variation from High Definition Digital Images of Orb Web Spiders.
abstract: Digital processing and analysis of high resolution images of 30 individuals of the orb web spider Verrucosa arenata were performed to extract and quantify human visible colors present on the dorsal abdomen of this species. Color extraction was performed with minimal user intervention using an unsupervised algorithm to determine groups of colors on each individual spider, which was then analyzed in order to quantify and classify the colors obtained, both spatially and using energy and entropy measures of the digital images. Analysis shows that the colors cover a small region of the visible spectrum, are not spatially homogeneously distributed over the patterns and from an entropic point of view, colors that cover a smaller region on the whole pattern carry more information than colors covering a larger region. This study demonstrates the use of processing tools to create automatic systems to extract valuable information from digital images that are precise, efficient and helpful for the understanding of the underlying biology.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Nacional de Informática Avanzada, A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
authors.forename: Horacio
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9671-9751
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tapia-McClung
authors.affiliation: INBIOTECA, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ajuria Ibarra
authors.affiliation: INBIOTECA, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003116:Color; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003205:Computing Methodologies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000502:physiology; D047011:Silk; D013112:Spiders
chemical_list: D047011:Silk