diff --git a/schemas/json/base_metadata_schema.json b/schemas/json/base_metadata_schema.json
index 8f06043c7..c180408a7 100644
--- a/schemas/json/base_metadata_schema.json
+++ b/schemas/json/base_metadata_schema.json
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@
         "species": {
           "type": "string",
           "description": "Species of subject. Use latin name.",
-          "pattern": "^[A-Z][a-z]+ [a-z]+"
+          "pattern": "^[A-Z][a-z]+ [a-z]+|http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_[0-9]+"
         },
         "subject_id": {
           "type": "string",