Desmoncus polyacanthos
Mart. · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Desmoncus polyacanthos's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility774 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotypeEvery layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Desmoncus polyacanthos, the jacitara palm, is a spiny, climbing palm native to the southern Caribbean and tropical South America. Stems grow clustered together, and are 2–12 m long and 0.5–2 cm in diameter. Petioles, rachis, cirrus and peduncular bracts are covered with short, curved spines. Two varieties are recognised: D. polyacanthos var. polyacanthos and D. polyacanthos var. prunifer (Poepp. ex Mart.) A.J.Hend. Desmoncus polyacanthos is found in Colombia, Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The stems are used for baskets and sieves.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology14
Life cycle & reproduction6
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment12
Physiology & chemistry2
Other traits4
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 Desmoncus polyacanthos 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 Desmoncus polyacanthos 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 302×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · kew
polyploid inferred1×PloiDB · family-scale
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 type774 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 institutions28 of 86 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Bronx, US | 160 |
| Saint Louis, US | 53 |
| Xiamen, CN | 43 |
| Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas - SINCHIlocation not on record | 34 |
| Chaguaramas, TT | 30 |
| Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record | 28 |
| JBRJlocation not on record | 20 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 20 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 17 |
| Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record | 16 |
| Université de Bordeauxlocation not on record | 15 |
| Aarhus, DK | 13 |
| UFPElocation not on record | 11 |
| INMAlocation not on record | 11 |
| Salvador, BR | 10 |
| UEPAlocation not on record | 8 |
| Cenargenlocation not on record | 8 |
| Brasília, BR | 7 |
| A. Hendersonlocation not on record | 7 |
| CEPLAClocation not on record | 7 |
| Departamento de Sistematica e Ecologialocation not on record | 6 |
| UFBAlocation not on record | 6 |
| Campo Grande, BR | 5 |
| Empresa Pernambucana de Pesquisa Agropecuária, IPAlocation not on record | 5 |
| USP-IBlocation not on record | 5 |
| Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Nortelocation not on record | 5 |
| La Paz, BO | 5 |
| Universidad de la Amazonia (UniAmazonia)location not on record | 5 |
| Paris, FR | 4 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 4 |
| Kew, GB | 4 |
| UnBlocation not on record | 4 |
| Altos de Pipe, VE | 4 |
| UFMGlocation not on record | 4 |
| Universidade do Estado de Mato Grossolocation not on record | 4 |
| Laboratorio de Ictiologialocation not on record | 4 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 3 |
| UFMSlocation not on record | 3 |
| Anton de Kom University of Surinamelocation not on record | 3 |
| Bogotá, D.C., CO | 3 |
| Feira de Santana, BR | 3 |
| Universidade Federal do Espírito Santolocation not on record | 3 |
| Istituto Agrario Castelnuovolocation not on record | 3 |
| Quito, EC | 3 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 2 |
| Mexico City, MX | 2 |
| Cambridge, US | 2 |
| CPATSAlocation not on record | 2 |
| H. Balslevlocation not on record | 2 |
| Instituto para la Investigación y la Preservación del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural del Valle del Cauca - INCIVAlocation not on record | 2 |
| Campo Mourão, BR | 2 |
| UTFPR-CPlocation not on record | 2 |
| Ivano-Frankivsk, UA | 1 |
| UFRPElocation not on record | 1 |
| UFAClocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidade Federal do Maranhãolocation not on record | 1 |
| UEMAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreallocation not on record | 1 |
| Herbario Selva Central Oxapampa - estación biológica del Jardín Botánico de Missourilocation not on record | 1 |
| Londrina, BR | 1 |
| H.Balslev (AAU), A.Henderson (NY) 2011location not on record | 1 |
| Berlin, DE | 1 |
| Ilhéus, BR | 1 |
| Santa Cruz de la Sierra, BO | 1 |
| León, NI | 1 |
| Universidade Federal do Vale do São Franciscolocation not on record | 1 |
| Cruz das Almas, BR | 1 |
| UFESlocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas (UDistrital)location not on record | 1 |
| COLlocation not on record | 1 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 1 |
| QCNElocation not on record | 1 |
| CJBGlocation not on record | 1 |
| MAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Balslev H.location not on record | 1 |
| Miami, US | 1 |
| UERJlocation not on record | 1 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 1 |
| UNEMATlocation not on record | 1 |
| UNIVASFlocation not on record | 1 |
| IECOSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Institut fur Allgemeine Mikrobiologielocation not on record | 1 |
| Santarém, BR | 1 |
| UNESP-FCAlocation not on record | 1 |
| UESBlocation not on record | 1 |
| Brasília, BR | 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 Desmoncus polyacanthos 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.