diff --git a/misc-scripts/production_database/scripts/populate_species_meta.pl b/misc-scripts/production_database/scripts/populate_species_meta.pl
index b2b9f8d52f2979d908c2bf72d2a14c41c35f8746..745cd02005ef3c402111d255be7a83bec98a3b51 100644
--- a/misc-scripts/production_database/scripts/populate_species_meta.pl
+++ b/misc-scripts/production_database/scripts/populate_species_meta.pl
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ sub _production {
       $taxon = $hash_ref->{'species.taxonomy_id'};
       warning("Chosen taxon id: ".$taxon);
       # hack this puppy. Update cached taxon to reflect better guess. Later call of _db_to_taxon was ignoring this.
-      $self->{'db_to_taxon'}->{$db} = $taxon;
+      $self->{_db_to_taxon}->{$db} = $taxon;
   }