NAME
query-worms - CLI tool to query the World Register of Marine Species
SYNOPSIS
query-worms TASK PARAM [OPTIONS..]
EXAMPLES
query-worms find-id 'Abra truncata' query-worms find-record 'Abra alba' query-worms get-record 507245 query-worms get-children 138474
==head1 DESCRIPTION
The tool is Q&D solution to read and search datasets from the
taxonomic database WoRMS. WoRMS is a register for marine
species. The aim of a World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is to
provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine
organisms, including information on synonymy. While highest priority
goes to valid names, other names in use are included so that this
register can serve as a guide to interpret taxonomic literature.
http://www.marinespecies.org/
TASKS
- find-id NAME
-
Find a WoRMS taxon ID (called AphiaID) by an name.
- find-record NAME
-
Find WoRMS taxon record by name.
- get-children ID
-
Get sub sequent taxa of a certain level for a specific AphiaID. Please be careful, lists for some taxa could be be large.
- get-record ID
-
Get the data record for a specific AphiaID.
PARAMETER
- NAME
-
A NAME addresses a scientific name for a taxon. You can use taxa expression of different ranks like 'Animalia', 'Annelida', 'Abra' or 'Abra alba'.
- ID
-
An ID is a numeric key in WoRMS called AphiaID. You can start an investigation on the top level using:
query-worms get-children 1 | grep ' NAME'
OPTIONEN
Output formats
The tool gives you different output structures for each operation mode (get-record, find-record, etc...).
- FORMAT TEXT
-
WORMS ID 138474 INT APHIA.ID 138474 STR NAME 'Abra' STR AUTHOR 'Lamarck, 1818' STR RANK 'Genus' STR STATUS 'accepted' INT VALID.APHIA.ID 138474 STR VALID.NAME 'Abra' STR VALID.AUTHOR 'Lamarck, 1818' STR KINGDOM 'Animalia' STR PHYLUM 'Mollusca' STR CLASS 'Bivalvia' STR ORDER 'Cardiida' STR FAMILY 'Semelidae' STR GENUS 'Abra' STR CITATION 'MolluscaBase eds. (2026). MolluscaBase. Abra Lamarck, 1818. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138474 on 2026-07-28' EOF - FORMAT SQL
-
INSERT INTO WORMS_TABLE \ (APHIA_ID,NAME,AUTHOR,RANK,STATUS,VALID_APHIA_ID,VALID_NAME,\ VALID_AUTHOR,RNK_KINGDOM,RNK_PHYLUM,RNK_CLASS,RNK_ORDER, RNK_FAMILY,RNK_GENUS,CITATION) VALUES \ (138474,'Abra','Lamarck, 1818','Genus','accepted',138474,'Abra',\ 'Lamarck, 1818','Animalia','Mollusca','Bivalvia','Cardiida', \ 'Semelidae','Abra',\ 'MolluscaBase eds. (2026). MolluscaBase. Abra Lamarck, 1818. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138474 on 2026-07-28'); - FORMAT CSV
-
APHIA_ID,NAME,AUTHOR,RANK,STATUS,VALID_APHIA_ID,VALID_NAME,\ VALID_AUTHOR,RNK_KINGDOM,RNK_PHYLUM,RNK_CLASS,RNK_ORDER,\ RNK_FAMILY,RNK_GENUS,CITATION 138474,'Abra','Lamarck, 1818','Genus','accepted',138474,'Abra',\ 'Lamarck, 1818','Animalia','Mollusca','Bivalvia','Cardiida',\ 'Semelidae','Abra','MolluscaBase eds. (2026). MolluscaBase. Abra Lamarck, 1818. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138474 on 2026-07-28'
- FORMAT TEXT (Default config)
-
WORMS.CHILDREN ID XXXXX
WORMS ID 550560 STRING VALID.NAME 'Pontoporeia affinis' STRING STATUS 'unaccepted' ... EOF ... EOF - FORMAT SQL
-
INSERT INTO WORMS_TABLE (APHIA_ID, NAME, AUTHOR, STATUS, CITE, RANK, VALID_APHIA_ID, VALID_NAME, VALID_AUTHOR, RNK_KINGDOM, RNK_PHYLUM, RNK_CLASS, RNK_ORDER, RNK_FAMILY, RNK_GENUS) VALUES (550560,'Pontoporeia affinis','Ekman, 1913', 'unaccepted','Lowry, J. (2012). Pontoporeia ..', 'Species',103078,'Pontoporeia affinis', 'Lindstroem, 1855', 'Animalia','Arthropoda','Amphipoda', 'Malacostraca','Pontoporeiidae','Pontoporeia') (550561,'Pontoporeia ...'...), ...; - FORMAT CSV
-
LINE1: APHIA_ID,NAME,AUTHOR, ... LINE2: 50560,'Pontoporeia affinis','Ekman, 1913',... LINE3: 550560,'Pontoporeia ...',...,... LINE4: ...
LICENSE
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.