# Fail whale on search for a name **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Created:** [April 7, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909 "2019-04-07T21:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/1 "2019-04-07T21:51:53Z")
[https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Pulsatilla%20sukaczewii](https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Pulsatilla%20sukaczewii) Looks like Pulsatilla tenuiloba subsp. sukaczewii may have been added to the database and then deleted (at database level)? Trying to get it in at specific level, consistent with POWO. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 5:10am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/2 "2019-04-10T05:10:31Z")
I can replicate, we’ll take a look. ---
**Author:** ![bouteloua](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bouteloua/32/1180_2.png) [@bouteloua](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bouteloua)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/3 "2019-12-27T20:13:58Z")
I’m no longer getting this error, but I think it’s because @kai\_schablewski added a new instance of it to the database. ---
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/4 "2019-12-27T20:15:19Z")
This one seems to be fixed, but I know I have a bug thread open with some other “null” taxa–try searching for Adenophorus sarmentosus, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![bouteloua](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bouteloua/32/1180_2.png) [@bouteloua](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bouteloua)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/5 "2019-12-27T20:17:03Z")
Found it; I’ll merge the topic here. ---
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/6 "2019-09-15T14:25:28Z")
_**posts merged from [Search for taxon “Alansmia stella” results in fail whale](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-for-taxon-alansmia-stella-results-in-fail-whale/6515)**_ Searched for the taxon to try to add it, and the fail whale comes up whenever I search for that name. ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/7 "2019-09-15T15:37:59Z")
looks ok to me. [https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/938993-Alansmia-stella](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/938993-Alansmia-stella). ---
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/8 "2019-09-15T15:39:32Z")
Right, but try plugging it into the search box. ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/9 "2019-09-15T15:41:20Z")
i did both the search box and the taxon search box (on the taxon page), and it seems to come back just fine. ---
**Author:** ![jnstuart](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jnstuart/32/1623_2.png) [@jnstuart](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jnstuart)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/10 "2019-09-15T15:42:15Z")
I submitted a false record of this taxon just now and it went through okay. ---
**Author:** ![scotiaspinner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/scotiaspinner/32/2546_2.png) [@scotiaspinner](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/scotiaspinner)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/11 "2019-09-15T16:46:08Z")
I also get the fail whale, but I when I plug Alansmia stella into the search box, I get a 2-option drop-down menu that appears. If I select one of the options from the drop-down menu, it works. If I just press enter, the fail whale appears. Screen shot below. ![Untitled](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/e/ec96e79c556fa0ad8c16771e9e754fc650adc2f6.png) ---
**Author:** ![jnstuart](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jnstuart/32/1623_2.png) [@jnstuart](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jnstuart)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/12 "2019-09-15T17:21:04Z")
Hmmm, when I did the same using the Search box, the Observations page for that species came up, indicating “no results found” – which is true because there are no submitted records. ---
**Author:** ![clay\_s](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/clay_s/32/2362_2.png) [@clay\_s](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/clay_s)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/13 "2019-09-15T21:08:18Z")
If I type “Alansmia stella” in the search box, two options show up, pressing enter results in a whale, selecting the first option results in “no observations” and selecting the second option results in endless hourglass (two arrows chasing each other). Typing “Alansmia stell” and pressing enter results in just the first option appearing and pressing enter results in : # Search Results for “Alansmia stell” [All](https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Alansmia+stell) [Taxa](https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Alansmia+stell&source%5B%5D=taxa) [Users](https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Alansmia+stell&source%5B%5D=users) [Projects](https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Alansmia+stell&source%5B%5D=projects) [Places](https://www.inaturalist.org/search?q=Alansmia+stell&source%5B%5D=places) #### [Alansmia stella](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/938993-Alansmia-stella) | [View Observations](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=938993) Alansmia stella is a species of plants with 0 observations Other Names: Terpsichore stella, Grammitis stella, Ctenopteris stella ---
**Author:** ![twainwright](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/twainwright/32/304_2.png) [@twainwright](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/twainwright)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/14 "2019-09-16T01:49:24Z")
> [@clay\_s](#): > > If I type “Alansmia stella” in the search box, two options show up, pressing enter results in a whale, selecting the first option results in “no observations” and selecting the second option results in endless hourglass (two arrows chasing each other). > > Typing “Alansmia stell” and pressing enter results in just the first option appearing and pressing enter results in : […] I confirm exactly this behavior from my machine. Further, if the second menu item is chosen, the URL contains “taxon\_id=null” so I suspect there’s a database problem with “Alansmia stella flava” that is messing up the search for the species. A taxon search for the subspecies turns up no result, and the taxon info for the species shows no subspecies defined. Oddly, typing in “Alansmia stella flava” and hitting return also results in the fail shark, even though there is only one choice in the dropdown menu. ---
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/15 "2019-10-02T03:35:57Z")
I’m now getting a similar problem with Adenophorus sarmentosus rockii, where the name of the taxon shows up in the search box but is linked to “null”. ---
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/16 "2019-10-26T12:26:52Z")
It looks like the null taxa got fixed…but then apparently as I was trying to import them from EoL (I successfully created both manually), iNat reimported them as null taxa again. Now I can see my own manually created Alansmia stella flava in the dropdown, together with another ungrafted one that has a null ID. Same for Adenophorus sarmentosus rockii. ---
**Author:** ![choess](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/choess/32/2433_2.png) [@choess](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/choess)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/17 "2019-12-01T14:33:53Z")
No fix yet–I’m still able to see the null taxa in the dropdown for both of the cases I mentioned. These are presumably not the only ones. Is there any way to fix the importer to avoid creating null taxa, or run a periodic maintenance query to help find and delete these? ---
**Author:** ![jwidness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jwidness](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jwidness)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/18 "2020-06-30T14:43:14Z")
I found another one that I assume might be failing due to a dieresis in the name: Helicoön ellipticum. It exists in the database, but has no taxon id and clicking the name in search (or hitting enter) brings up the fail whale. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/8/88df22f4f6f6cae6f48714c7e9c42484fcd674e0.png) I assume Helicoön ellipticum was brought in via external name providers (it’s not possible to create a taxon with a dieresis directly in iNat). It should be swapped into Helicoon ellipticum, but the taxon change screen won’t find it to swap. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/e/e9f9a5250939d6a3ab485242ef6c846f5b885bae.png) The other thing I noticed is that searching for Helicoon ellipticum in the header search and hitting enter also causes the fail whale. I guess because one of the taxa it’s trying to load in the search results is Helicoön ellipticum. So I don’t know why all the other taxa in this thread are null, but it looks like a dieresis (and potentially other characters) will cause a null taxon on import from external name providers. And that a single null taxon in header search results will cause a fail whale. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/21 "2020-06-30T20:05:20Z")
I’ll put this in my report this week. ---
**Author:** ![thomaseverest](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/thomaseverest/32/63220_2.png) [@thomaseverest](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/thomaseverest)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 6:08am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909/22 "2020-07-02T06:08:42Z")
I have the same issue for Cypraea hammondae dampierensis (I think). Feel free to merge here for accessibility: [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-result-gives-null-whale-shark/13924](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-result-gives-null-whale-shark/13924) [Next page](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fail-whale-on-search-for-a-name/1909.md?page=2)