When to use this skill
When the user asks whether a scientific name is accepted, wants to resolve a synonym, needs the full taxonomic lineage (kingdom through variety) for an organism, or wants common names for a species — reach for ITIS. ITIS tracks nomenclature and classification, not occurrence records. For geographic range data or specimen observations, use GBIF or iNaturalist instead.
Your best first call
curl "https://services.itis.gov/?q=tsn:182662&wt=json"
No auth. No key. Query by tsn (Taxonomic Serial Number) to get a single record. If you have a scientific name instead, use q=nameWInd:"Agave+americana" — but TSN lookup is more reliable because ITIS name strings include indicator marks that make exact matching tricky.
Key fields in the Solr response:
usage — "accepted" or "not accepted"; the single most important fieldacceptedTSN — TSN of the currently accepted name (absent when usage is "accepted")unacceptReason — free-text curator explanation (e.g. "synonym")credibilityRating — "TWG standards met" means vetted by a Taxonomic Working Grouprank, kingdom — taxonomic rank and kingdomhierarchySoFarWRanks — full lineage in one $-delimited string with rank labels ($Kingdom:Plantae$...$Genus:Agave$)hierarchyTSN — TSN for each rank, same $-delimited ordervernacular — common names packed as $name$language$usage$tsn$date$
Fallbacks (when the best call isn't enough)
- Need occurrence records or geographic range → GBIF (
api.gbif.org) maps TSNs to specimen data. Use when the question is "where does this species occur" rather than "what is this taxon called."
- No fallbacks for nomenclature itself — ITIS is the authoritative US federal source. If
services.itis.gov is down, taxonomic resolution is unavailable.
Pitfalls
- The API lives at
services.itis.gov, not www.itis.gov. The docs page is on www.itis.gov; the Solr endpoint is a different host.
hierarchySoFarWRanks and vernacular are $-delimited strings, not structured JSON. Split on $, then on :, to extract rank–name pairs or common names.- Grab
hierarchySoFarWRanks, not hierarchySoFar. The version without ranks strips rank labels, making the lineage unparseable.
- A bare call with no
q parameter returns the entire index. Always include a Solr query. Use rows and fl to cap and filter results.
One-line summary for the user
I can look up authoritative taxonomic data — scientific names, synonymy, accepted status, full lineage, and common names — from the ITIS database via a single unauthenticated Solr GET, but I need to parse dollar-delimited hierarchy and vernacular strings myself.
ITIS
· primary
· verified
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Solr Web Service provides access to authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes. ITIS contains more than 900,000 scientific and common names with their taxon…
SKILL.md source (frontmatter + body)
---
name: look-up-itis-taxonomic-data
description: When the user asks whether a scientific name is accepted, wants to resolve a synonym, needs the full taxonomic lineage for an organism, or wants common names for a species — reach for ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). Solr-based GET, no auth required.
---
## When to use this skill
When the user asks whether a scientific name is accepted, wants to resolve a synonym, needs the full taxonomic lineage (kingdom through variety) for an organism, or wants common names for a species — reach for ITIS. ITIS tracks nomenclature and classification, not occurrence records. For geographic range data or specimen observations, use GBIF or iNaturalist instead.
## Your best first call
```bash
curl "https://services.itis.gov/?q=tsn:182662&wt=json"
```
No auth. No key. Query by `tsn` (Taxonomic Serial Number) to get a single record. If you have a scientific name instead, use `q=nameWInd:"Agave+americana"` — but TSN lookup is more reliable because ITIS name strings include indicator marks that make exact matching tricky.
Key fields in the Solr response:
- `usage` — `"accepted"` or `"not accepted"`; the single most important field
- `acceptedTSN` — TSN of the currently accepted name (absent when `usage` is `"accepted"`)
- `unacceptReason` — free-text curator explanation (e.g. `"synonym"`)
- `credibilityRating` — `"TWG standards met"` means vetted by a Taxonomic Working Group
- `rank`, `kingdom` — taxonomic rank and kingdom
- `hierarchySoFarWRanks` — full lineage in one `$`-delimited string with rank labels (`$Kingdom:Plantae$...$Genus:Agave$`)
- `hierarchyTSN` — TSN for each rank, same `$`-delimited order
- `vernacular` — common names packed as `$name$language$usage$tsn$date$`
## Fallbacks (when the best call isn't enough)
- **Need occurrence records or geographic range** → GBIF (`api.gbif.org`) maps TSNs to specimen data. Use when the question is "where does this species occur" rather than "what is this taxon called."
- **No fallbacks for nomenclature itself** — ITIS is the authoritative US federal source. If `services.itis.gov` is down, taxonomic resolution is unavailable.
## Pitfalls
- **The API lives at `services.itis.gov`, not `www.itis.gov`.** The docs page is on `www.itis.gov`; the Solr endpoint is a different host.
- **`hierarchySoFarWRanks` and `vernacular` are `$`-delimited strings, not structured JSON.** Split on `$`, then on `:`, to extract rank–name pairs or common names.
- **Grab `hierarchySoFarWRanks`, not `hierarchySoFar`.** The version without ranks strips rank labels, making the lineage unparseable.
- **A bare call with no `q` parameter returns the entire index.** Always include a Solr query. Use `rows` and `fl` to cap and filter results.
## One-line summary for the user
I can look up authoritative taxonomic data — scientific names, synonymy, accepted status, full lineage, and common names — from the ITIS database via a single unauthenticated Solr GET, but I need to parse dollar-delimited hierarchy and vernacular strings myself.