Natural History Museum Collection Specimen Search
nhmdataportal/specimen-search
Searches the Natural History Museum (London) Collection specimens dataset and returns up to 50 specimen records per call: catalogue number, scientific name, family, order, class, kingdom, basis of record, collection code, type status, country, state or province, locality, latitude and longitude, year, month and day collected, collector names, occurrence id and GBIF id. `q` searches all columns; `filters` is a JSON object of exact column matches, for example {"genus":"Panthera","country":"Kenya"}. Only columns that have a value appear on a record; coordinates arrive as strings. Specimen data is CC0. Data from the Natural History Museum Data Portal as served by Eden Engine, not an official Natural History Museum product.
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
Natural History Museum Data Portal
Specimen records from the Natural History Museum (London) Collection specimens dataset on its Data Portal (data.nhm.ac.uk), published under CC0 1.0. No credit is required; credit offered as a courtesy: "Source: Natural History Museum Data Portal", with the GBIF id and catalogue number for traceability. Passed through unmodified. Served by Eden Engine; not an official Natural History Museum 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.
// 1. search: find the tool
omnial_search({ query: "what you need" })
// 2. inspect: price and input schema
omnial_inspect({ tool: "nhmdataportal/specimen-search" })
// 3. learn: read the usage guide at runtime
omnial_learn({ tool: "nhmdataportal/specimen-search" })
// 4. run: price the exact call first, then run it
omnial_execute({ tool: "nhmdataportal/specimen-search", input: { /* see input_schema */ }, dry_run: true })
omnial_execute({ tool: "nhmdataportal/specimen-search", input: { /* ... */ } })
// 5. settle: the call is charged when it finishes, nothing to doNot 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 | $0.0026 |
- Updated
- Oct 21, 2026
Input and output schemas
Input schema
{
"type": "object",
"required": [
"limit"
],
"properties": {
"q": {
"type": "string",
"maxLength": 200,
"minLength": 1,
"description": "Optional full-text search over every column, for example Panthera leo or Kenya. Leave out to match all records (use filters to narrow)."
},
"limit": {
"type": "integer",
"maximum": 50,
"minimum": 1,
"description": "How many specimen records to return, 1 to 50. Required."
},
"offset": {
"type": "integer",
"minimum": 0,
"description": "Records to skip, for reading further pages of the same search. Leave out to start at the first record."
},
"filters": {
"type": "string",
"pattern": "^\\{.*\\}$",
"maxLength": 500,
"description": "Optional JSON object of exact column matches, for example {\"genus\":\"Panthera\",\"country\":\"Kenya\"}. Columns include scientificName, genus, family, order, class, kingdom, country, stateProvince, collectionCode, typeStatus, basisOfRecord and year."
}
},
"additionalProperties": false
}Output schema
{
"type": "object",
"required": [
"results"
],
"properties": {
"results": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"_id": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Record id within the portal."
},
"day": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Day collected."
},
"year": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Year collected."
},
"class": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Class."
},
"month": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Month collected."
},
"order": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Order."
},
"family": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Family."
},
"gbifID": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The record's GBIF id."
},
"country": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Country of collection."
},
"kingdom": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Kingdom."
},
"locality": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Locality text as recorded."
},
"modified": {
"type": "string",
"description": "When the record was last modified, UTC."
},
"recordedBy": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Collector names, when recorded."
},
"typeStatus": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Type status, for example HOLOTYPE or NON-TYPE."
},
"occurrenceID": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Globally unique occurrence id."
},
"basisOfRecord": {
"type": "string",
"description": "For example PreservedSpecimen or FossilSpecimen."
},
"catalogNumber": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The museum's catalogue number."
},
"stateProvince": {
"type": "string",
"description": "State or province of collection."
},
"collectionCode": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Collection department code, for example ZOO or PAL."
},
"scientificName": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Scientific name as recorded, with authorship."
},
"decimalLatitude": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Latitude in decimal degrees, as a string."
},
"decimalLongitude": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Longitude in decimal degrees, as a string."
},
"currentScientificName": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Current accepted name, when given."
}
},
"description": "One specimen record. A column with no value is left out. Numbers arrive as strings.",
"additionalProperties": true
},
"description": "One entry per specimen record; empty when nothing matches."
}
},
"description": "The specimen records the portal returned, in its order.",
"additionalProperties": true
}