Specimen descriptive elements
describe
This operation returns a list of elements that can be used to describe the specimen, such as 'bone', 'tooth', 'valve'.
parameter
The following parameters select the records to return
- all_records : Given any other arguments, returns all sample element records known to the database.
- taxon_name : Return only elements valid for the specified taxon.
- taxon_id : Return only elements valid for the specified taxon, given by its identifier in the database.
- name_re : Return only elements whose name or alternate name matches the given regular expression.
The following parameters specify the information that should be returned
-
show : Indicates additional information to be displayed along with the base record. The value should be a comma-separated list containing one or more of the following values:
seq : Includes sequence numbers from a preordered traversal of the taxon tree enclosing the taxon that defines each element. -
order : Specifies the order in which results are returned. You can specify multiple comma-separated values, each appended with .asc or .desc. Accepted values are:
name : Returns elements alphabetically by name.
hierarchy : Results are sorted hierarchically by taxonomic identifier. The order of sister taxa is arbitrary, but subtaxa will always follow parent taxa.
Of course you can also use anyspecial parameters, see PBDB Data Service: Special parameters (special parameters) .
method
This data service accepts the following HTTP methods: GET , HEAD .
response result
Responses to HTTP requests using this operation will contain the fields in the following list. The block basic is always displayed. Others can be selected using the parameter show .
1：basic
| field name (pbdb) | field name (com) | describe |
|---|---|---|
| specelt_no | oid | The unique identifier of this specimen element in the database |
| record_type | typ | The type of this object: els represents the specimen element. |
| element_name | nam | the name of this sample element |
| parent_name | par | The name of the parent element, if any. This can be used to display elements in a collapsed list, where a single element expands to reveal its children. |
| alternate_names | alt | An alternate name for this element, if any. |
| taxon_name | tna | The name of the base taxon for which this element is defined. |
Format
The following response formats are available for this operation. The desired format must be selected for the request by adding the appropriate suffix to the URI path.
| Format | suffix | document |
|---|---|---|
| JSON | .json | JSON format |
| Comma-separated text | .txt | Text formats |
| Comma-separated text | .csv | Text formats |
| Tab-separated text | .tsv | Text formats |
Glossary
| Glossary | name | default format | describe |
|---|---|---|---|
| PaleobioDB field names | pbdb | txt, csv, tsv | The PBDB vocabulary is derived from the base field names and values in the database, with some new fields added. In most cases, responses using this vocabulary will be compared directly to those downloaded from the PBDB Classic interface. This vocabulary is the default vocabulary for Text formatted responses. |
| Compact field names | com | json | The Compact vocabulary is a set of 3-character field names designed to minimize the size of response messages. This is the default for JSON-formatted responses. Some field values are similarly simplified, while others are passed intact. |