shipapis
StarSubmit an APISubmit API

iDigBio

Search millions of digitized biological specimens

🔭 Science & SpaceUNMONITORED
AUTH NONECORS ✓AGENT ?HTTPS ✓COMMERCIAL ?

iDigBio aggregates natural-history specimen records from museums and collections worldwide. Its search API accepts a JSON record-query and returns matching specimens with full Darwin Core fields. A single query can surface hundreds of thousands of catalogued organisms.

—HOW IT'S SCORED ⓘ
▶ Run liveDocs ↗
Status badge · for your READMEshipapis health badge: — · unmonitored
ON PROBE SCHEDULE

We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Open provider docs ↗

Uptime historystarts after first probe

On our probe schedule. Uptime charts appear after the first check lands.

Example responsefrom provider docs — not verified by us
GET https://search.idigbio.org/v2/search/records?rq=%7B%22genus%22%3A%22acer%22%7D&limit=1

{
  "itemCount": 130353,
  "lastModified": "2026-04-23T18:06:26.502Z",
  "items": [
    {
      "uuid": "d957ac64-ce51-4d40-801e-670b345aa7b6",
      "type": "records",
      "data": {
        "dwc:recordedBy": "MacGinitie, H.D.",
        "dwc:occurrenceID": "urn:catalog:UCMP:P:153071"
      }
    }
  ]
}
Call itcurl · fetch · python
curl "https://search.idigbio.org/v2/search/records?rq=%7B%22genus%22%3A%22acer%22%7D&limit=1"
const res = await fetch("https://search.idigbio.org/v2/search/records?rq=%7B%22genus%22%3A%22acer%22%7D&limit=1");
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);
import requests

res = requests.get("https://search.idigbio.org/v2/search/records?rq=%7B%22genus%22%3A%22acer%22%7D&limit=1")
print(res.json())
Endpoints · 6On scheduleFULL DOCS ↗
On schedule — GET /v2/search/records?rq=%7B%22genus%22%3A%22acer%22%7D&limit=1 awaits first probe
GET/v2/search/records?rq=%7B%22genus%22%3A%22acer%22%7D&limit=1PROBED

Search millions of digitized biological specimens

GET/v2

V2 — documented GET route.

GET/v2/1

V2 details by ID (example: 1).

GET/v2?limit=10

V2 — documented GET route.

GET/v2/search?q=test

Search by query parameters.

GET/v2/

V2 — documented GET route.

Machine-readable spec

We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Export includes every documented route below.

Response-shape history

Not tracked yet. Shape-change history starts once this API joins our probe schedule.

iDigBio: common questions

Is iDigBio free to use?

Yes — iDigBio is a free science & space API. Free tier: Free — limits not published. Whether the free tier allows commercial use is unclear — check the provider docs.

Does iDigBio need an API key?

No — iDigBio needs no API key or signup. You can call it straight away; rate limits still apply (Unpublished).

Can I call iDigBio from the browser?

Yes — iDigBio returns CORS headers over HTTPS, so front-end code can fetch it directly with no backend proxy. Use the fetch snippet on this page, or hit "Run live" to try it now.

Is iDigBio up right now?

iDigBio is catalogued but not yet on our probe schedule, so we don't publish a live status for it. Check the provider's own status page or docs for its current state.