Aspidotis densa
(Brack.) Lellinger · speciesAt a glance
Sources9 archives
Databases and archives Aspidotis densa's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation4 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility5 130 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics8 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Aspidotis densa is a species of fern known by the common name Indian's dream or Serpentine fern. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Wyoming, as well as parts of eastern North America including Quebec. A. densa grows in rocky areas; it is often a member of the serpentine soils flora on rocky mountain slopes, well-drained but seasonally moist. This fern has leaves on long brown to black petioles, with the blade occupying less than half of the total length of the leaf when including the petiole. The fertile and sterile leaves may look alike or slightly different. The leaf blade is triangular and composed of many leaflets which are subdivided into untoothed segments. The segments are lined with sori over which the edges of the leaf are folded to form a false indusium. Aspidotis densa develops on crevices and exposed rocky outcrops in mossy cracks, and over time creeps to fill in every fissure, creating well-established colonies in the outcrop. They may exhibit frond dimorphism, that is, the sterile fronds are shorter and pinnae broader than the fertile, which rise above on long, wiry petioles. The pinnae of the fertile fronds are very narrow and lace-like [4]. Height: 2–4 in. Width 6–12 in.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Life cycle & reproduction1
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment5
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aspidotis densa has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Aspidotis densa carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 606×CCDB · book-LoveLove1977 · CCDB · eflora
n 304×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn66 · CCDB · book-ipcn75-78
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type5 130 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions65 of 93 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Arcata, US | 173 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 152 |
| Corvallis, US | 105 |
| DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 77 |
| Pullman, US | 70 |
| Université Lavallocation not on record | 51 |
| St. Paul, US | 43 |
| Claremont, US | 38 |
| Moscow, US | 34 |
| Vancouver, CA | 33 |
| Philadelphia, US | 31 |
| Missoula, US | 31 |
| Bronx, US | 28 |
| Davis, US | 25 |
| CASlocation not on record | 25 |
| Santa Barbara, US | 24 |
| Victoria, CA | 24 |
| San Diego, US | 23 |
| McWane Science Centerlocation not on record | 18 |
| Québec, CA | 18 |
| Tacoma, US | 17 |
| Boise, US | 14 |
| Minia, EG | 13 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 12 |
| Riverside, US | 12 |
| STNFlocation not on record | 10 |
| LDlocation not on record | 10 |
| Chapel Hill, US | 9 |
| Knoxville, US | 9 |
| San Jose, US | 7 |
| US | 7 |
| Ashland, US | 7 |
| Madison, US | 6 |
| Bozeman, US | 6 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 5 |
| Montréal, CA | 5 |
| Fort Worth, US | 5 |
| Bloomington, US | 5 |
| San Luis Obispo, US | 4 |
| Saint Louis, US | 4 |
| Caldwell, US | 4 |
| Burlington, US | 3 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 3 |
| Northridge, US | 3 |
| South Kensington, GB | 3 |
| University of Guelph, OAC Herbariumlocation not on record | 3 |
| Provo, US | 3 |
| Flagstaff, US | 3 |
| Portland, US | 2 |
| Meguro Parasitological Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record | 2 |
| Pocatello, US | 2 |
| Bend, US | 2 |
| Austin, US | 2 |
| Edinburgh, GB | 2 |
| Anchorage, US | 2 |
| Santa Cruz, US | 2 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 2 |
| HJAEFlocation not on record | 2 |
| Fort Bragg, US | 2 |
| Tampa, US | 2 |
| KNFSClocation not on record | 1 |
| GB | 1 |
| San Diego Natural History Museum, Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Millersville, US | 1 |
| Durham, US | 1 |
| Pacific Lutheran Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Columbia, US | 1 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| KNFHClocation not on record | 1 |
| Whitehorse, CA | 1 |
| US | 1 |
| College Park, US | 1 |
| Montréal, CA | 1 |
| Auckland, NZ | 1 |
| San Angelo, US | 1 |
| Henderson, US | 1 |
| Oskarshamn, SE | 1 |
| Wlocation not on record | 1 |
| Clemson, US | 1 |
| KNFYlocation not on record | 1 |
| Texas A&M Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| EL PASO, US | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
| Albuquerque, US | 1 |
| Cheney, US | 1 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 1 |
| Durango, US | 1 |
| INFlocation not on record | 1 |
| Research Collection of B. A. Bennettlocation not on record | 1 |
| Bureau of Land Management, Medford District Officelocation not on record | 1 |
| Orem, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Aspidotis densa was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.