ITIS Taxonomy SLM (Mistral 7B Fine-Tuned)

A lightweight Small Language Model (SLM) fine-tuned for taxonomy classification, based on Mistral-7B and optimized for local inference (GGUF). 👉 Use this model as:

  • an assistant
  • a formatter
  • a lightweight offline tool

👉 Do NOT use it as:

  • a replacement for ITIS
  • a source of scientific truth without verification

⚠️ Disclaimer

This model is not an authoritative source for full taxonomic lineage.

While it often produces well-structured outputs, individual lineage relationships may be incorrect.


Overview

This model is a domain-specific Small Language Model (SML) fine-tuned on structured data derived from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

It explores how a relatively small model (~7B parameters) can perform on:

  • structured tasks
  • stable datasets
  • domain-specific reasoning

The goal is not to replace large models, but to demonstrate a lightweight, offline-capable alternative for constrained use cases.


Key Characteristics

  • Base model: Mistral 7B Instruct
  • Fine-tuning: QLoRA (4-bit)
  • Dataset: ~35K ITIS-derived samples
  • Quantization: GGUF (Q5_K_M)
  • Domain: Biological taxonomy
  • Designed for: offline / controlled environments

What This Model Does Well

This model performs best on short, structured outputs:

  • ✅ Taxonomic rank identification
  • ✅ Parent taxon identification
  • ✅ Scientific ↔ common name mapping
  • ✅ Basic validity checks
  • ✅ Unknown taxon detection

👉 These tasks are highly reliable in practice


What Requires Caution

⚠️ Full Lineage Generation

Even when:

  • JSON is valid
  • structure looks correct

➡️ the taxonomy itself may be partially incorrect

Example risk:

  • correct genus
  • incorrect family

Benchmark (Strict Evaluation)

Task Known Accuracy Unknown Accuracy Hallucination
Lineage 0.87 1.00 0.00
Parent 1.00 1.00 0.00
Rank 0.86 0.87 0.12
Validity 0.93 0.86 ⚠️ Not measured

Key takeaway:

👉 Short tasks are reliable
👉 Long structured outputs require verification


Recommended Usage

High-confidence use cases

  • rank queries
  • parent queries
  • structured QA on known taxa
  • offline taxonomy assistants

How to Use

Option 1 — LM Studio

Download the .gguf file Load into LM Studio Use with prompt example below

Option 2 — llama.cpp

./main -m mistral-7b-itis-taxonomy-sml-v3.gguf -p "What is the lineage of Panthera leo?"

Option 3 — Python (recommended for tracking)

from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download

model_path = hf_hub_download( repo_id="Jaymerry/mistral-7b-itis-taxonomy-slm-v3", filename="mistral-7b-itis-taxonomy-sml-v3.gguf" )

Example Prompt

➤ Taxonomic rank Input:

  • What taxonomic rank is Panthera leo?
  • Output:
    • Species

Small Language Model (SML) Perspective

This project demonstrates that:

Small models can be effective when trained on structured, stable data.

Benefits:

  • low compute cost
  • offline usage
  • reproducibility
  • controlled knowledge scope

This is particularly relevant for:

  • enterprise use cases
  • scientific tooling
  • embedded / local AI

Dataset

Source:
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
https://www.itis.gov/

Properties:

  • public domain
  • structured
  • relatively stable over time

Legal Notice

  • ITIS data is public domain
  • this model is a statistical transformation, not a database
  • outputs may be incorrect or incomplete
  • verification is required for critical use

Limitations

  • domain-restricted
  • English-only
  • not general-purpose
  • lineage may contain factual errors
  • imperfect refusal on validity

Notes on Downloads

For accurate download tracking, prefer using: hf_hub_download(...) Downloads via direct links or external tools may not be counted.

Author

Jeremy Banchet (Jaymerry)

Downloads last month
43
GGUF
Model size
7B params
Architecture
llama
Hardware compatibility
Log In to add your hardware

We're not able to determine the quantization variants.

Inference Providers NEW
This model isn't deployed by any Inference Provider. 🙋 Ask for provider support

Model tree for Jaymerry/mistral-7b-itis-taxonomy-slm-v3

Quantized
(284)
this model

Collection including Jaymerry/mistral-7b-itis-taxonomy-slm-v3