🦴 Paleobiology Database Fossils Scraper

🚀 Pull fossil occurrence records in seconds. Search any taxon and get back where it was found, how old it is, and which collection it came from, straight from the Paleobiology Database (PBDB).

🕒 Last updated: 2026-06-05 · 📊 24 fields per record · Global coverage · Keyless public data service

The Paleobiology Database is a public, scientist-curated archive of the fossil record, holding millions of occurrence records contributed by paleontologists worldwide. This Actor queries the PBDB data service by taxonomic name and returns clean, structured fossil occurrence records ready for analysis.

Coverage: Every taxonomic level is searchable, from a single genus like Tyrannosaurus up to an entire class like Mammalia. Each occurrence carries its taxon identification, geologic age in millions of years, country and coordinates, and the rock formation it was recovered from. Filter by geologic interval (period, epoch, or age) and by country to focus a query.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Paleontologists and geologists	Build occurrence datasets for a taxon or clade
Researchers and students	Map fossil distribution across time and place
Data scientists and educators	Feed biodiversity and macroevolution models
Museum and collection staff	Cross-reference specimens with literature

📋 What the Paleobiology Database Fossils Scraper does

It calls the PBDB occurrences endpoint for a taxon name you provide and walks the returned records, returning one row per fossil occurrence. For every occurrence it captures the taxon name and rank, the occurrence and collection identifiers, the geologic interval and early/late age in millions of years (Ma), the reference identifier, the country, latitude and longitude, and the rock formation. Optional interval and country filters narrow the search.

🎬 Full Demo (🚧 Coming soon)

⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
baseName	string	No (defaults to Tyrannosaurus)	Taxonomic name to search. Hierarchical, so a genus, family, or class returns every occurrence beneath it.
interval	string	No	Named geologic interval such as Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, or Miocene.
country	select	No	Restrict to one country by ISO code (for example US, CA, MN).
maxItems	integer	No	Free users limited to 10. Paid users up to 1,000,000.

Example 1 — all Tyrannosaurus occurrences:

{
  "baseName": "Tyrannosaurus",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example 2 — Cretaceous dinosaurs from the United States:

{
  "baseName": "Dinosauria",
  "interval": "Cretaceous",
  "country": "US",
  "maxItems": 200
}

⚠️ Good to Know: PBDB queries are hierarchical. A broad name like Mammalia or Trilobita can match tens of thousands of occurrences, so set maxItems to keep runs focused. Geographic fields such as formation, group, member, and county are filled only when the original collection recorded them, so they may be empty on some occurrences.

📊 Output

🏷 Field	Description
🦴 taxonName	Accepted taxonomic name of the occurrence
🏷 taxonRank	Rank of the name (species, genus, family, and so on)
🔎 identifiedName	Name as originally identified, when it differs
🆔 occurrenceId	PBDB occurrence identifier
🗂 collectionId	PBDB collection identifier
🧬 taxonId	PBDB taxon identifier
🧫 phylum	Phylum classification
🐾 class	Class classification
📚 order	Order classification
👪 family	Family classification
🦕 genus	Genus classification
⏳ earlyInterval	Earliest geologic interval for the occurrence
⌛ lateInterval	Latest geologic interval, when bounded
⬆ earlyAgeMa	Early age boundary in millions of years
⬇ lateAgeMa	Late age boundary in millions of years
🌍 country	Country code where the fossil was found
🗺 state	State or province
🏘 county	County, when recorded
📍 lat	Latitude in decimal degrees
📍 lng	Longitude in decimal degrees
🪨 formation	Geologic formation
🗻 geologicGroup	Geologic group, when recorded
🧱 member	Geologic member, when recorded
📖 referenceId	PBDB bibliographic reference identifier
🕒 scrapedAt	Timestamp the record was collected

Real sample records:

[
  {
    "taxonName": "Tyrannosaurus rex",
    "taxonRank": "species",
    "occurrenceId": "occ:139292",
    "collectionId": "col:11917",
    "phylum": "Chordata",
    "class": "Reptilia",
    "family": "Tyrannosauridae",
    "earlyInterval": "Late Maastrichtian",
    "earlyAgeMa": 72.2,
    "lateAgeMa": 66,
    "country": "CA",
    "state": "Alberta",
    "formation": "Scollard",
    "lat": 51.906399,
    "lng": -113.0289,
    "referenceId": "ref:4218"
  },
  {
    "taxonName": "Tyrannosaurus rex",
    "taxonRank": "species",
    "occurrenceId": "occ:139293",
    "collectionId": "col:11918",
    "phylum": "Chordata",
    "class": "Reptilia",
    "family": "Tyrannosauridae",
    "earlyInterval": "Late Maastrichtian",
    "earlyAgeMa": 72.2,
    "lateAgeMa": 66,
    "country": "CA",
    "state": "Alberta",
    "formation": "Scollard",
    "lat": 51.933334,
    "lng": -113.23333,
    "referenceId": "ref:4205"
  },
  {
    "taxonName": "Tyrannosaurus rex",
    "taxonRank": "species",
    "occurrenceId": "occ:220009",
    "collectionId": "col:22657",
    "phylum": "Chordata",
    "class": "Reptilia",
    "family": "Tyrannosauridae",
    "earlyInterval": "Late Campanian",
    "earlyAgeMa": 83.6,
    "lateAgeMa": 72.2,
    "country": "CA",
    "state": "Alberta",
    "formation": "Dinosaur Park",
    "lat": 50.727234,
    "lng": -111.524582,
    "referenceId": "ref:5721"
  }
]

✨ Why choose this Actor

• Direct line to the PBDB data service, the reference archive for the fossil record.
• One clean row per occurrence, with classification, age, location, and formation already separated into fields.
• Hierarchical taxon search, so one query can pull a genus or an entire class.
• Interval and country filters to scope a study without post-processing.
• Ages returned numerically in millions of years, ready for plotting and modeling.

📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Effort	Structured output	Filters
This Actor	Enter a taxon name	Yes, 24 fields	Interval and country
Manual PBDB web download	Build query strings by hand	Partial	Manual
Copying from publications	Very high	No	None

🚀 How to use

1. Create a free Apify account using this sign-up link.
2. Open the Paleobiology Database Fossils Scraper.
3. Enter a taxon name in baseName, for example Triceratops, Canis, or Trilobita.
4. Optionally set an interval and a country, then choose maxItems.
5. Run the Actor and collect your fossil occurrence dataset.

💼 Business use cases

Research and academia

Need	How it helps
Build a taxon occurrence dataset	Pull every record for a clade in one run
Study diversity over time	Age fields support range and turnover analysis

Education

Need	How it helps
Teach the fossil record	Real occurrences with ages and locations
Student projects	Ready data for maps and timelines

Collections and museums

Need	How it helps
Cross-reference holdings	Match specimens to PBDB collections
Trace literature	Reference identifiers link back to sources

Data and analytics

Need	How it helps
Feed biodiversity models	Clean, typed fields per occurrence
Build dashboards	Coordinates and ages drive maps and charts

🔌 Automating Paleobiology Database Fossils Scraper

Connect runs to Make, Zapier, Slack, Airbyte, GitHub Actions, or Google Drive through the Apify API and integrations to schedule queries and route fresh occurrence data wherever your team works.

🌟 Beyond business use cases

• Research: assemble occurrence sets for macroevolution and biogeography studies.
• Personal: explore where your favorite prehistoric animals once lived.
• Non-profit: support science outreach and museum education programs.
• Experimentation: prototype paleo data visualizations and maps.

🤖 Ask an AI assistant

Paste your dataset into ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot and ask it to summarize age ranges, cluster occurrences by formation, or draft a methods paragraph.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Is the data official? Yes, it comes from the Paleobiology Database public data service, curated by paleontologists.

Do I need an API key? No. The PBDB data service is public and keyless.

What does baseName accept? Any taxonomic name. The search is hierarchical and includes everything below the name.

How do the age fields work? earlyAgeMa and lateAgeMa give the older and younger boundaries of the occurrence in millions of years.

Why are some location fields empty? Formation, group, member, and county appear only when the original collection recorded them.

Can I filter by time? Yes, set interval to a period, epoch, or age such as Jurassic or Maastrichtian.

Can I filter by place? Yes, set country to an ISO code such as US, CN, or MN.

How many records can I get? Free runs return up to 10 records. Paid plans return up to 1,000,000.

What if a taxon has no occurrences? The run finishes with no records and a note to broaden the search.

Can I run it on a schedule? Yes, use Apify scheduling or any connected automation platform.

🔌 Integrate with any app

Use the Apify API, webhooks, and native integrations to push occurrence data into your own pipelines, databases, and notebooks.

🔗 Recommended Actors

• Macrostrat Geology Units Scraper for stratigraphic units by location.
• GAIA Star Catalog Scraper for astronomical catalog data.
• JPL Small-Body Database Scraper for asteroid and comet records.

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection.

🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form

⚠️ Disclaimer: independent tool, not affiliated with the Paleobiology Database. Only publicly available data is collected.