Search for phylogenetic nodes (taxa) in PhyloPic by name. Returns matching nodes with their UUIDs, names, parent taxa, and primary images. The search text should be lower-case with non-alphabetic characters removed and whitespace trimmed (e.g. "primates", "homo sapiens", "aves").

Get autocomplete suggestions for taxonomic names based on partial text. Useful for discovering what taxa are available in PhyloPic before doing a full search. Returns a list of matching name suggestions (e.g. query 'prim' returns 'primates', 'primatiformes', etc.).

Get detailed information about a specific phylogenetic node by its UUID. Returns the node's names, parent node, primary image, and child nodes. Can optionally embed the parent node and primary image data in the response.

Get the ancestral lineage (chain of parent taxa) for a given phylogenetic node. Returns a list of nodes from the immediate parent up to the root of the tree of life. Useful for understanding the taxonomic classification of an organism.

Get the root phylogenetic node (the ancestor of all organisms in PhyloPic's database). This is the top of the tree of life. Can optionally embed the primary image data.

Get detailed information about a specific silhouette image by its UUID. Returns the image's contributor, taxonomic nodes, license, and links to all available file formats (source file, vector SVG, raster PNG files at various sizes, and thumbnail files). Can optionally embed the contributor, specific node, general node, and full lineage nodes.

List silhouette images that directly represent a specific phylogenetic node. Use this to find all images of a particular taxon (e.g. all images of Homo sapiens). For ancestral nodes, consider using 'search_images_by_clade' instead to get images of all descendant taxa as well.

List silhouette images within a clade (a node and all its descendants). This is useful for ancestral nodes — for example, getting all images of mammals, birds, or insects. Images are roughly sorted by their subject matter's proximity to the clade root node.

List silhouette images contributed by a specific PhyloPic contributor. Use this to browse all images uploaded by a particular artist or contributor.

List all PhyloPic contributors (artists who have uploaded silhouette images). Contributors are sorted by image count (most prolific first). Each contributor entry includes their name, UUID, total image count, and contact info if available.

Get detailed information about a specific PhyloPic contributor by their UUID. Returns the contributor's name, total image count, creation date, and contact information if available.

List all Creative Commons licenses available for new image submissions to PhyloPic. Each license includes a link to the full license text. Useful for understanding what licenses are accepted when contributing images.

List all authorized external taxonomic database namespaces that can be used for resolving external identifiers to PhyloPic nodes. These include databases like GBIF, Open Tree of Life, NCBI, Paleobiology Database, and more. Each namespace has an authority and a namespace identifier.

Resolve an external taxonomic database identifier to the closest matching PhyloPic phylogenetic node. For example, resolve a GBIF species key or an NCBI taxon ID to find the corresponding PhyloPic node. Use 'list_namespaces' first to see available authorities and namespaces.

Get general information about the PhyloPic API, including the current build number, API version, and available resource endpoints. Useful for checking API status and discovering available endpoints.

Check if the PhyloPic API is operational. Returns a simple status message. Useful for health checks and connectivity verification.