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CatalogueOfLife

The most complete authoritative list of the world's species, maintained by hundreds of global taxonomists
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Actions12

  • Decision Actions
  • Estimate Actions
  • Name Actions
  • Name Usage Actions
  • Name Usage Search Actions
  • Name Usage Suggest Actions
  • Reference Actions
  • Source Metadata Actions
  • Synonym Actions
  • Taxon Actions
  • Tree Actions
  • Vernacular Actions

Overview

The node interacts with the Catalogue of Life API, which is a comprehensive and authoritative global species database maintained by taxonomists. It allows users to retrieve detailed taxonomic data about species, names, synonyms, references, and related metadata.

Specifically, for the Name Usage Suggest resource with the Get operation, the node provides suggestions for scientific names based on a search query. This is useful when you want to autocomplete or validate scientific names in workflows, ensuring accurate taxonomic information.

Practical examples:

  • Autocompleting species names in a biodiversity data entry form.
  • Validating user input against accepted scientific names.
  • Suggesting possible species names when only partial or fuzzy input is available.

Properties

Name Meaning
Query The search query string used to find matching scientific names.
Accepted Boolean flag to suggest only scientific names that have an accepted taxonomic status.
Fuzzy Enables fuzzy search to allow approximate matches rather than exact ones.
Minimum Rank The minimum taxonomic rank to include in suggestions. Options range from broad ranks like Domain down to very specific ranks like Subspecies, Variety, Form, etc. (e.g., Domain, Kingdom, Genus, Species, Subspecies).
Maximum Rank The maximum taxonomic rank to include in suggestions. Same options as Minimum Rank.
Reverse Boolean flag to order results in reverse.
Sort By Criterion to sort the results by. Options are: Name, Native, Relevance, Taxonomic.
Offset Numeric offset for paging through results.
Limit Maximum number of results to return (minimum 1).

Output

The output is a JSON array containing suggested scientific names matching the query and filters. Each item in the array represents a name usage suggestion with details such as the scientific name, taxonomic status, rank, and other relevant metadata provided by the Catalogue of Life API.

No binary data output is involved.

Dependencies

  • Requires internet access to call the Catalogue of Life public API at https://api.checklistbank.org/dataset/3LR/nameusage/suggest.
  • No authentication or API key is required for this endpoint.
  • Uses standard HTTP GET requests with query parameters constructed from the node's input properties.

Troubleshooting

  • Empty results: If no suggestions are returned, verify the query string is correct and not empty. Also check if restrictive filters like Accepted or rank limits exclude all results.
  • API errors or timeouts: Ensure network connectivity to the API endpoint. The API may be temporarily unavailable or rate-limited.
  • Invalid property values: Make sure numeric fields like Limit and Offset are valid numbers within allowed ranges.
  • Unexpected output format: Confirm that the node is configured for the correct resource (nameUsageSuggest) and operation (get).

Links and References

Discussion