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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 Suggest → 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 Suggest - Get operation allows users to retrieve suggested scientific names based on a search query, optionally filtered and sorted by various taxonomic criteria.

Common scenarios for this node include:

  • Autocompleting or suggesting scientific names in biodiversity data entry workflows.
  • Validating or standardizing species names against an authoritative taxonomy.
  • Enhancing ecological or biological datasets with accurate taxonomic references.

For example, a user can input a partial species name and receive a list of suggested accepted scientific names within a specified taxonomic rank range, ordered by relevance or taxonomic hierarchy.

Properties

Name Meaning
Query (q) The search query string for which to suggest scientific names. This is required.
Accepted Boolean flag to suggest only scientific names that have an accepted taxonomic status.
Fuzzy Boolean flag to enable fuzzy search, allowing 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 Subform or Strain.
Maximum Rank The maximum taxonomic rank to include in suggestions. Same options as Minimum Rank, defining the upper bound of taxonomic ranks to consider.
Reverse Boolean flag to order results in reverse order.
Sort By Criterion to sort the results by. Options are: Name, Native, Relevance, and Taxonomic.
Offset Numeric offset for paging through results, indicating how many initial results to skip.
Limit Maximum number of results to return. Must be at least 1. Defaults to 50.

Output

The node outputs a JSON array where each element corresponds to a suggested scientific name matching the query and filters. Each item contains detailed taxonomic information as returned by the ITIS API, such as the scientific name, taxonomic status, rank, and possibly other metadata.

No binary data output is produced by this operation.

Dependencies

  • The node requires internet access to call the ITIS API endpoint at https://api.checklistbank.org/dataset/2144/nameusage/suggest.
  • No authentication credentials are needed for this API.
  • The node uses standard HTTP GET requests with query parameters constructed from the input properties.

Troubleshooting

  • Empty Results: If no suggestions are returned, verify that the query string (q) is correctly set and not empty. Also, check if restrictive filters like Accepted or narrow rank ranges exclude all possible matches.
  • API Errors or Timeouts: Network issues or API downtime may cause errors. Ensure stable internet connectivity and retry later.
  • Invalid Parameter Values: Using unsupported values for ranks or sort options might cause the API to reject the request. Use the provided options strictly.
  • Large Result Sets: Setting a very high Limit may slow down responses or cause timeouts. Use reasonable limits and pagination via Offset.

Links and References

This summary focuses exclusively on the Name Usage Suggest - Get operation of the ITIS node as requested.

Discussion