`search_taxa`

Pack: inaturalist · Endpoint: https://gateway.pipeworx.io/inaturalist/mcp

No MCP client? Call it directly: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_taxa for the schema, then POST the same URL with its arguments for the data.

Search iNaturalist taxa by name (common or scientific). Returns taxon ID, rank, ancestry, conservation status, and photo URL. Use the taxon ID for downstream filters or to disambiguate look-alike species.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	yes	Common or scientific name
`rank`	string	no	Restrict to a rank (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)
`per_page`	number	no	Results per page (1-30, default 10)

Example call

Arguments

{
  "query": "Panthera leo"
}

curl

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/inaturalist/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"search_taxa","arguments":{"query":"Panthera leo"}}}'

TypeScript (@pipeworx/sdk)

import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const pipeworx = new Pipeworx();

const result = await pipeworx.call('search_taxa', {
  "query": "Panthera leo"
});

More examples

{
  "query": "red panda",
  "rank": "species"
}

Response shape

Always returns: total_results, results

Field	Type	Description
`total_results`	number	Total taxa matching search
`results`	array	Array of taxon records

Full JSON Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "total_results": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Total taxa matching search"
    },
    "results": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Array of taxon records",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "id": {
            "type": "number",
            "description": "Taxon ID"
          },
          "scientific_name": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Scientific name"
          },
          "common_name": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Common name"
          },
          "rank": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Taxonomic rank"
          },
          "observations_count": {
            "type": [
              "number",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Total observations for taxon"
          },
          "conservation_status": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "IUCN conservation status"
          },
          "ancestry": {
            "type": "array",
            "description": "Taxonomic ancestry chain",
            "items": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "photo": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Photo URL"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "total_results",
    "results"
  ]
}

Connect

Add this to your MCP client config, or use one-click install buttons:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inaturalist": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/inaturalist/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See Getting Started for client-specific install steps.

search_taxa