diff --git a/src/api06/handler_utils.cpp b/src/api06/handler_utils.cpp
index c61a1499e..3c42da0c4 100644
--- a/src/api06/handler_utils.cpp
+++ b/src/api06/handler_utils.cpp
@@ -45,8 +45,21 @@ vector<osm_nwr_id_t> parse_id_list_params(request &req, const string &param_name
       try {
         for (vector<string>::iterator itr = strs.begin(); itr != strs.end();
              ++itr) {
-          osm_nwr_id_t id = lexical_cast<osm_nwr_id_t>(*itr);
-          myids.push_back(id);
+          // parse as a 64-bit signed int to catch negative numbers. postgres
+          // bigint is int64_t anyway, so this doesn't truncate the allowed
+          // range.
+          int64_t id = lexical_cast<int64_t>(*itr);
+          // note: osm_nwr_id_t is currently uint64_t, so int64_t cannot
+          // overflow it in the positive direction. this would need to change
+          // if the types changed.
+          if (id > 0) {
+            myids.push_back(osm_nwr_id_t(id));
+
+          } else {
+            // simulate rails_port behaviour - things that we can't parse are
+            // treated as zero.
+            myids.push_back(0);
+          }
         }
       } catch (const bad_lexical_cast &) {
         // note: this is pretty silly, and may change when the rails_port
diff --git a/test/node.testcore/nodes_negative.case b/test/node.testcore/nodes_negative.case
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..90ba6b693
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/node.testcore/nodes_negative.case
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# tests that passing a list of nodes, some negative, will result in
+# a 404 response. negative nodes do not appear in the database, so
+# any query containing them will fail.
+Request-Method: GET
+Request-URI: /api/0.6/nodes?nodes=-1875196430,1970729486,-715595887,153329585,276538320,276538320,276538320,276538320,557671215,268800768,268800768,272134694,416571249,4118507737,639141976,-120408340,4118507737,4118507737,-176459559,-176459559,-176459559,416571249,-176459559,-176459559,-176459559,557671215
+---
+Status: 404 Not Found
+---
diff --git a/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp b/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp
index ee656ceeb..fd44fff02 100644
--- a/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp
+++ b/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "cgimap/api06/handler_utils.hpp"
 #include <boost/foreach.hpp>
 #include <iostream>
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <map>
 
@@ -40,26 +41,68 @@ struct test_request : public request {
   std::map<std::string, std::string> m_params;
 };
 
-} // anonymous namespace
-
-int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-  std::string query_str = "nodes=1,1,1,1";
+std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> parse_query_str(std::string query_str) {
   test_request req;
   req.set_header("REQUEST_METHOD", "GET");
   req.set_header("QUERY_STRING", query_str);
   req.set_header("PATH_INFO", "/api/0.6/nodes");
 
+  return api06::parse_id_list_params(req, "nodes");
+}
+
+void test_parse_returns_no_duplicates() {
+  std::string query_str = "nodes=1,1,1,1";
+
   // the container returned from parse_id_list_params should not contain
   // any duplicates.
-  std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> ids = api06::parse_id_list_params(req, "nodes");
+  std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> ids = parse_query_str(query_str);
+
   if (ids.size() != 1) {
-    std::cerr << "Parsing " << query_str << " as a list of nodes should "
-              << "discard duplicates, but got: {";
+    std::ostringstream err;
+    err << "Parsing " << query_str << " as a list of nodes should "
+        << "discard duplicates, but got: {";
     BOOST_FOREACH(osm_nwr_id_t id, ids) {
-      std::cerr << id << ", ";
+      err << id << ", ";
     }
-    std::cerr << "}\n";
+    err << "}\n";
+    throw std::runtime_error(err.str());
+  }
+}
+
+void test_parse_negative_nodes() {
+  std::string query_str =
+    "nodes=-1875196430,1970729486,-715595887,153329585,276538320,276538320,"
+    "276538320,276538320,557671215,268800768,268800768,272134694,416571249,"
+    "4118507737,639141976,-120408340,4118507737,4118507737,-176459559,"
+    "-176459559,-176459559,416571249,-176459559,-176459559,-176459559,"
+    "557671215";
+
+  std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> ids = parse_query_str(query_str);
+
+  // maximum ID that postgres can handle is 2^63-1, so that should never
+  // be returned by the parsing function.
+  const osm_nwr_id_t max_id = std::numeric_limits<int64_t>::max();
+  BOOST_FOREACH(osm_nwr_id_t id, ids) {
+    if (id > max_id) {
+      throw std::runtime_error("Found ID > max allowed ID in parsed list.");
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+} // anonymous namespace
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  try {
+    test_parse_returns_no_duplicates();
+    test_parse_negative_nodes();
+
+  } catch (const std::exception &e) {
+    std::cout << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
     return 1;
+
+  } catch (...) {
+    std::cout << "Unknown exception type." << std::endl;
+    return 99;
   }
 
   return 0;