# Saylor Innovations Data Desk – ITIS Species Taxonomy Lookup

> Saylor Innovations Data Desk – ITIS Species Taxonomy Lookup is a paid API for AI agents from saylorinnovations.com, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-16).

Resolves a scientific species name to its ITIS taxonomic serial number, full kingdom-to-species lineage, rank, child taxa, and common names in English and other languages

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://saylorinnovations.com/api/taxonomy/itis?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-16
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/saylor-innovations-data-desk-itis-species-taxonomy-lookup-0c1cadb9
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_fW7o-yl4iCHl7ZTGVcuOG

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability saylor-innovations-data-desk-itis-species-taxonomy-lookup-0c1cadb9
```

Example prompt: Look up the ITIS taxonomy for Puma concolor — I need the full lineage from kingdom to species, the taxonomic serial number, any child taxa, and common names in English and other languages.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need authoritative ITIS-sourced taxonomic data for a species or taxon by scientific name, especially when you require the full kingdom-to-species lineage, ITIS TSN, child taxa enumeration, or multilingual common names. Prefer this over general web search when structured, machine-readable taxonomy data is needed for biodiversity databases, scientific research pipelines, or species enrichment workflows.

## Known failure modes

- Scientific name not found in ITIS — returns empty or null results
- Ambiguous name matching multiple taxa — other_matches array contains lower-ranked alternatives
- Misspelled or non-standard scientific name — no TSN returned
- Name exists at a higher rank (family/order) without child taxa populated
- Network or payment failure — HTTP 402 or 5xx error

## How this service works

ITIS species taxonomy lookup - scientific name to taxonomic serial number, rank, full kingdom-to-species lineage, child taxa and common names in English and other languages

## Output

A JSON object containing the ITIS taxonomic serial number (TSN), scientific name, taxonomic rank, kingdom, full lineage hierarchy array (each node with TSN, name, and rank), list of child taxa with their TSNs and ranks, English common names, common names in other languages, author attribution, data source, timestamp, and any other candidate matches for the query.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET",
      "POST",
      "PUT",
      "PATCH",
      "DELETE",
      "HEAD"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "name"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "name": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Scientific name, e.g. Puma concolor"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "tsn",
      "scientific_name"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "tsn": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "ITIS taxonomic serial number"
      },
      "rank": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Rank, 1 is highest"
      },
      "query": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "The query as the server interpreted it"
      },
      "author": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Author name"
      },
      "source": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Data source the values come from"
      },
      "kingdom": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ]
      },
      "hierarchy": {
       "type": "array",
       "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
         "tsn": {
          "description": "ITIS taxonomic serial number"
         },
         "name": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "Name"
         },
         "rank": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "Rank, 1 is highest"
         }
        }
       }
      },
      "checked_at": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Time the check was run (UTC)"
      },
      "child_taxa": {
       "type": [
        "array",
        "null"
       ],
       "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
         "tsn": {},
         "name": {},
         "rank": 
… (truncated)
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/saylor-innovations-data-desk-itis-species-taxonomy-lookup-0c1cadb9/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from saylorinnovations.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/saylorinnovations.com/llms.txt)