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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

Taxon → Get

AI-generated

Overview

This node integrates with the ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System) API to retrieve authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes primarily of North America but also globally. Specifically, for the Taxon - Get operation, it fetches detailed taxon data from the ITIS dataset.

Common scenarios where this node is beneficial include:

  • Retrieving taxonomic details for a specific taxon by its ID.
  • Paging through large sets of taxon records using offset and limit parameters.
  • Integrating taxonomic data into biodiversity databases, research workflows, or environmental data pipelines.

Practical example:

  • A researcher wants to get detailed information about a particular species or taxon by providing its unique taxon ID.
  • An application needs to list taxa in batches, so it uses offset and limit to paginate results.

Properties

Name Meaning
Additional Fields Collection of optional parameters:
- ID The unique identifier for the taxon to retrieve.
- Offset The paging offset to skip a number of results (useful for pagination).
- Limit Maximum number of taxon results to return (minimum 1, default 50).

Output

The node outputs an array of JSON objects representing the taxon data retrieved from the ITIS API. Each object corresponds to a taxon record and contains detailed taxonomic information as provided by the ITIS service.

The output structure is:

[
  {
    // Taxon details fields as returned by the ITIS API
  },
  ...
]

No binary data output is produced by this operation.

Dependencies

  • External Service: ITIS API at https://api.checklistbank.org/dataset/2144
  • No authentication or API keys are required for this endpoint.
  • The node makes HTTP GET requests to the ITIS API with appropriate query parameters based on input properties.

Troubleshooting

  • Empty or no results:
    Ensure that the provided taxon ID is correct and exists in the ITIS database. If no ID is provided, the node will return a paginated list of taxa starting from the offset.

  • Invalid parameter values:
    Offset must be zero or positive; limit must be at least 1. Providing invalid values may cause errors or unexpected results.

  • API connectivity issues:
    Network problems or ITIS API downtime can cause request failures. Check network connectivity and retry later.

  • Unexpected API response:
    If the ITIS API changes or returns errors, the node might fail. Review error messages and verify the API status.

Links and References

Discussion