GET /occurrence/search

gbif.org:gbif-api

Summary: Search occurrence records
Operation ID: searchOccurrences
Auth: unknown
Description

Search for species occurrence records with various filters including spatial queries, taxonomic filters, and date ranges.

Parameters (26)

basisOfRecord (string, query, optional)

Basis of record (OBSERVATION, SPECIMEN, etc.)

Constraints: {'enum': ['OBSERVATION', 'HUMAN_OBSERVATION', 'MACHINE_OBSERVATION', 'MATERIAL_SAMPLE', 'SPECIMEN', 'PRESERVED_SPECIMEN', 'FOSSIL_SPECIMEN', 'LIVING_SPECIMEN', 'LITERATURE', 'UNKNOWN']}

class (string, query, optional)

Class name

continent (string, query, optional)

Continent

Constraints: {'enum': ['AFRICA', 'ANTARCTICA', 'ASIA', 'EUROPE', 'NORTH_AMERICA', 'OCEANIA', 'SOUTH_AMERICA']}

coordinateUncertaintyInMeters (number, query, optional)

Uncertainty radius in meters

country (string, query, optional)

Country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2)

datasetKey (string, query, optional)

Dataset key

decimalLatitude (number, query, optional)

Latitude in decimal degrees (WGS84)

Constraints: {'minimum': -90, 'maximum': 90}

decimalLongitude (number, query, optional)

Longitude in decimal degrees (WGS84)

Constraints: {'minimum': -180, 'maximum': 180}

eventDate (string, query, optional)

Event date (ISO 8601 format)

family (string, query, optional)

Family name

genus (string, query, optional)

Genus name

geometry (string, query, optional)

WKT geometry for spatial filtering (POINT, POLYGON, etc.)

hasCoordinate (boolean, query, optional)

Filter for records with coordinates

hasGeospatialIssue (boolean, query, optional)

Include records with geospatial issues

kingdom (string, query, optional)

Kingdom name

limit (integer, query, optional, default: 20)

Number of results to return (max 300)

Constraints: {'maximum': 300}

month (integer, query, optional)

Month of occurrence (1-12)

Constraints: {'minimum': 1, 'maximum': 12}

offset (integer, query, optional, default: 0)

Offset for pagination

order (string, query, optional)

Order name

phylum (string, query, optional)

Phylum name

publishingOrg (string, query, optional)

Publishing organization key

q (string, query, optional)

Full-text search query

scientificName (string, query, optional)

Scientific name of the species

species (string, query, optional)

Species name

taxonKey (integer, query, optional)

Taxon key from the GBIF backbone

year (integer, query, optional)

Year of occurrence

Examples (6)

TitleTypeURLAction
Search species occurrences openapi-spec https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=40,50&decimalLongitude=-10,10&year=2020,2023
Occurrence search by taxonKey 3329049 doc_extracted https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?taxonKey=3329049
Occurrence search by scientificName Pan troglodytes doc_extracted https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?scientificName=Pan%20troglodytes
Occurrence search by taxonKey 5219534 (Pan troglodytes) doc_extracted https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?taxonKey=5219534
Search occurrences by taxonKey doc_extracted https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?taxonKey=3329049
Search Occurrences probe-gate https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?limit=20&offset=0

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 10:13:30.409408 200 311ms
2026-03-23 09:41:52.904609 200 262ms
2026-03-23 09:26:15.698870 200 879ms
2026-03-23 09:13:55.989979 200 307ms
2026-03-23 09:10:42.651404 200 287ms
2026-03-23 09:05:50.536134 200 1181ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 09:10:42.651404 b9704c5b9227 8bd3713dbdf0
2026-03-23 09:13:55.989979 8bd3713dbdf0 ddf0e781dd56
2026-03-23 09:26:15.698870 ddf0e781dd56 9dbed771ff86
2026-03-23 09:41:52.904609 9dbed771ff86 8bd3713dbdf0
2026-03-23 10:13:30.409408 8bd3713dbdf0 ddf0e781dd56