col.species.children
List the immediate child taxa of a given taxon in the Catalogue of Life taxonomic tree. For example: pass the ID for a family to get its genera; pass a genus ID to list its species; pass an order ID to enumerate its families. Returns paginated results with up to 100 children per call, each includ...
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/col.species.children.md
What col.species.children does on Apibase
AI agents call col.species.children to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
limit | integer | — | Maximum number of child taxa to return (1–100, default 20). |
offset | integer | — | Zero-based pagination offset for large genera with many species (default 0). |
taxon_id | string | Yes | Catalogue of Life usage ID of the parent taxon whose immediate children to list (e.g. the ID for a family returns its genera; a genus returns its species). Obta |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why col.species.children is rated Low
Retrieves taxonomic data from Catalogue of Life without modifying, executing, or deleting anything.
From the tool's definition List the immediate child taxa, returns paginated results, no modification or deletion
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs col.species.children safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Apibase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For col.species.children, this is the rule to start with:
col.species.children is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Apibase, apply this rule, and every col.species.children call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about col.species.children
List the immediate child taxa of a given taxon in the Catalogue of Life taxonomic tree. For example: pass the ID for a family to get its genera; pass a genus ID to list its species; pass an order ID to enumerate its families. Returns paginated results with up to 100 children per call, each including taxon ID, scientific name, rank, status, and higher classification. Use offset for pagination over large groups (e.g. Coleoptera has 400K+ species). Obtain the taxon_id from col.species.search or col.species.suggest. CC BY 4.0 — ~10 million taxa across all kingdoms including Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Bacteria, Archaea, Protista, Chromista, and Viruses. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apibase MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
col.species.children accepts 3 parameters: limit, offset, taxon_id. Required: taxon_id. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Apibase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for col.species.children: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Apibase. Nothing to install.
col.species.children is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the col.species.children rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for col.species.children. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
col.species.children is provided by the Apibase MCP server (apibase-mcp-client). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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