Australian Species Search by Name (Atlas of Living Australia)

alaapi/species-search

Searches the Atlas of Living Australia species index by common or scientific name. Each hit is either a TAXON (scientific name, authorship, rank, taxonomic status, parent and classification GUIDs, common names, occurrence count, conservation status, image links) or a COMMON name entry that points to its accepted name and taxon GUID. 1 to 20 hits per call (default 10); page with `start`. Use a hit's `guid` (TAXON) or `taxonGuid` (COMMON) with species-profile. Image links point at ALA's image service, whose images carry their own licences. Atlas of Living Australia data, served by Eden Engine; not an official ALA product.

activeper callv1

Price

$0.0026 per call

You pay the price shown. If a call turns out to cost more than its quote, you pay the actual price, capped at twice the quote. No monthly minimum. Top-ups start at $0.50.

Data source

Atlas of Living Australia

Taxonomic data from the Atlas of Living Australia (https://www.ala.org.au), compiled from the Australian Faunal Directory, the Australian Plant Name Index and other sources named in each result (`infoSourceName`). Served by Eden Engine; not an official Atlas of Living Australia product.

Use it

Five steps: search, inspect, learn, run, settle. No per-tool setup; your agent reaches this tool through the meta-tools it already has.

Connect once and your AI can find and run this tool, and any other it needs.

Install it Create an account

agent

// 1. search: find the tool
omnial_search({ query: "what you need" })

// 2. inspect: price and input schema
omnial_inspect({ tool: "alaapi/species-search" })

// 3. learn: read the usage guide at runtime
omnial_learn({ tool: "alaapi/species-search" })

// 4. run: price the exact call first, then run it
omnial_execute({ tool: "alaapi/species-search", input: { /* see input_schema */ }, dry_run: true })
omnial_execute({ tool: "alaapi/species-search", input: { /* ... */ } })

// 5. settle: the call is charged when it finishes, nothing to do

Not connected yet? Point your MCP client at https://mcp.eden-engine.com/mcp, then copy a config for your client.

Pricing

Every charge this tool can incur.

Charge	Price
Per call	$0.0026

Updated: Oct 21, 2026

Input and output schemas

Input schema

input_schema.json

{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "q"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "q": {
      "type": "string",
      "maxLength": 200,
      "minLength": 1,
      "description": "Search text, a common or scientific name, for example 'koala' or 'Phascolarctos cinereus'."
    },
    "start": {
      "type": "integer",
      "maximum": 5000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "description": "Hits to skip, default 0, at most 5000."
    },
    "pageSize": {
      "type": "integer",
      "maximum": 20,
      "minimum": 1,
      "description": "Hits per call, 1 to 20; the service default is 10."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Output schema

output_schema.json

{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "searchResults"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "searchResults": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [
        "totalRecords",
        "results"
      ],
      "properties": {
        "results": {
          "type": "array",
          "items": {
            "type": "object",
            "properties": {
              "id": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "Index id of the hit."
              },
              "guid": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "Taxon GUID (a URL) for TAXON hits; the index id for COMMON hits."
              },
              "name": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "Matched name."
              },
              "rank": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "Taxonomic rank, for example species."
              },
              "idxtype": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "TAXON, COMMON or another index record type."
              },
              "taxonGuid": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "On COMMON hits, the GUID of the accepted taxon."
              },
              "scientificName": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "occurrenceCount": {
                "type": "integer",
                "description": "Occurrence records ALA holds for the taxon (all licences)."
              },
              "taxonomicStatus": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "For example accepted or synonym."
              },
              "commonNameSingle": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "conservationStatus": {
                "type": [
                  "string",
                  "null"
                ]
              },
              "acceptedConceptName": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "On COMMON hits, the accepted scientific name."
              }
            },
            "additionalProperties": true
          },
          "description": "One object per hit. idxtype TAXON hits carry scientificName, rank, taxonomicStatus, classification GUIDs and occurrenceCount; COMMON hits carry name, acceptedConceptName and taxonGuid."
        },
        "queryTitle": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "totalRecords": {
          "type": "integer",
          "description": "Hits for the query before paging."
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": true
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": true
}