`search_taxa`

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

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