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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

This node interacts with the Catalogue of Life API, a comprehensive and authoritative global species database maintained by taxonomists. Specifically, the "Vernacular" resource with the "Get" operation allows users to search for vernacular (common) names of species.

Use cases include:

  • Retrieving common names of species in various languages.
  • Filtering vernacular names by language codes.
  • Paging through large sets of vernacular name results.

Practical example:

  • You want to find all vernacular names matching "oak" in English (language code "eng") and retrieve up to 50 results starting from the first record.

Properties

Name Meaning
Additional Fields A collection of optional parameters to refine the vernacular name search:
- Query (q) The vernacular name search query string.
- Language The 3-letter ISO 639-3 code specifying the language of the vernacular name (e.g., "eng" for English).
- Offset Numeric offset for paging through results; defaults to 0.
- Limit Maximum number of results to return; minimum value is 1, default is 50.

Output

The node outputs an array of JSON objects representing vernacular names retrieved from the Catalogue of Life API. Each object corresponds to a vernacular name entry matching the search criteria.

The output JSON structure directly reflects the API response for vernacular names, typically including fields such as the vernacular name itself, language, and possibly associated taxonomic information.

No binary data output is produced by this node.

Dependencies

  • Requires internet access to call the Catalogue of Life public API at https://api.checklistbank.org/dataset/3LR.
  • No authentication or API keys are required for this endpoint.
  • Uses standard HTTP GET requests with JSON responses.

Troubleshooting

  • Empty Results: If no vernacular names are returned, verify that the query string (q) is correct and that the language code matches ISO 639-3 standards.
  • Invalid Language Code: Using an incorrect or unsupported language code may result in no matches.
  • Paging Issues: Ensure that offset and limit values are within valid ranges; negative offsets or zero limits will cause errors.
  • Network Errors: Check internet connectivity and API availability if requests fail.
  • API Changes: Since this relies on an external API, changes to the API endpoints or parameters could break functionality.

Links and References

Discussion