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ITIS

Authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world

Actions9

  • Name Actions
  • Name Usage Actions
  • Name Usage Search Actions
  • Name Usage Suggest Actions
  • Reference Actions
  • Synonym Actions
  • Taxon Actions
  • Tree Actions
  • Vernacular Actions

Name Usage Search → Get

AI-generated

Overview

This node integrates with the ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System) API, providing authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and worldwide. Specifically, the Name Usage Search - Get operation allows users to perform detailed searches for taxonomic name usages based on a query string and various optional filters.

Typical use cases include:

  • Searching for scientific names or authorship details in taxonomic databases.
  • Filtering search results by taxonomic rank, content type, facets, and sorting preferences.
  • Retrieving paginated and sorted lists of taxonomic name usages matching specific criteria.

For example, a researcher could use this node to find all species names starting with "Quercus" (oak genus), filter by minimum and maximum taxonomic ranks, and sort results by relevance or taxonomic order.

Properties

Name Meaning
Query (q) The search query string used to find matching name usages.
Additional Fields A collection of optional parameters to refine the search:
- Content The type of content to search within. Options: Authorship, Scientific Name.
- Facet One or more search facets to apply as filters. Options include: Alpha Index, Authorship, Authorship Year, Catalogue Key, Dataset Key, Decision Mode, Environment, Extinct, Field, Issue, Name ID, Name Type, Nomenclatural Code, Nomenclatural Status, Origin, Published In ID, Publisher Key, Rank, Sector Dataset Key, Sector Key, Status, Taxon ID, Unsafe, Usage ID.
- Facet Limit Limits the number of facet values returned.
- Fuzzy Enables fuzzy search to allow approximate matches. Boolean value.
- Minimum Rank Filters results to those at or above this taxonomic rank. Extensive list of ranks from Domain down to Unranked (e.g., Kingdom, Family, Genus, Species, Subspecies, Variety, Form, etc.).
- Maximum Rank Filters results to those at or below this taxonomic rank. Same extensive list as Minimum Rank.
- Reverse If true, orders the results in reverse order. Boolean value.
- Sort By Determines how results are sorted. Options: Name, Native, Relevance, Taxonomic.
- Type The type of search to perform. Options: Exact, Prefix, Whole Words.
- Offset The paging offset for result pagination (integer).
- Limit Maximum number of results to return (integer, minimum 1).

Output

The node outputs an array of JSON objects representing the search results returned by the ITIS API's /nameusage/search endpoint. Each object contains detailed taxonomic information about a name usage matching the query and applied filters.

The exact structure depends on the API response but typically includes fields such as:

  • Scientific name details
  • Authorship information
  • Taxonomic rank
  • Identifiers (e.g., usage ID, taxon ID)
  • Status and nomenclatural data
  • Other metadata relevant to the name usage

No binary data is output by this node.

Dependencies

  • Requires internet access to call the ITIS API at https://api.checklistbank.org/dataset/2144.
  • No special credentials or API keys are required for this operation.
  • Uses standard HTTP GET requests with JSON responses.

Troubleshooting

  • Empty Results: Ensure the query string (q) is correctly specified and not empty. Also, check that filters like minimum/maximum rank or facets are not overly restrictive.
  • Invalid Parameter Values: Using unsupported values for options like content, facet, minRank, maxRank, or sortBy may cause errors or no results. Use only documented option values.
  • API Connectivity Issues: Network problems or API downtime will cause request failures. Verify network connectivity and retry later.
  • Pagination Errors: Setting offset or limit incorrectly (e.g., negative numbers) may lead to errors. Use valid positive integers.

Links and References

This summary covers the static analysis of the ITIS node's Name Usage Search Get operation, focusing on its input properties, output format, dependencies, and common troubleshooting points.

Discussion