Petalonyx thurberi is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae known by the common names Thurber's sandpaper plantPetalonyx thurberi. USDA PLANTS. and common sandpaper plant.Petalonyx thurberi. NatureServe. 2012. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in sandy and scrubby habitat. It is a rounded or spreading, clumpy subshrub made up of many rough-haired stems approaching one meter in maximum height. The stems are lined with clasping leaves varying in shape from lance-shaped to triangular to oval and sometimes toothed. The inflorescence at the end of the stem is a small, crowded raceme of several flowers. The white flower appears tubular, its petals fused near the spreading tips but open lower, the stamens emerging from outside the corolla.A REVISION OF PETALONYX (LOASACEAE) WITH A CONSIDERATION OF AFFINITIES IN SUBFAMILY GRONOVIOIDEAEWilliam S. Davis and Henry J. ThompsonMadroñoVol. 19, No. 1 (JANUARY, 1967), pp. 1-18Published by: California Botanical SocietyStable URL: [1] There are two subspecies, with the rarer, ssp. gilmanii (Death Valley sandpaper plant), limited to the deserts in and around Death Valley.P. thurberi ssp. gilmanii. The Jepson Manual.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
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 Petalonyx thurberi has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens3
Marker genes2
eDNA detections2
Countries1
Marker genes sequenced
★ 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.
★matK★rbcLa
plant barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPetalonyx thurberi 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.
Chromosomes2n = 46 n = 23
Ploidypolyploid inferred
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
n 231×CCDB · book-ipcn67-71
CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 — DAVIS, W. S., & H. J. THOMPSON. 1967. A revision of Pentalonyx (Loasaceael with a consideration of affinities in subfamily Gronovioideae. Madrofto 19: 1-18.
Ploidy records — measured levels and diploid/polyploid inferences · click for sources
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
DNA clock origin2.72 Ma TimeTree
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.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 777 records
Wild obs. + sensor1 136
Museum / vouchered641
Origin
Native110
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO3 212 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy91% within 1 km
≤100 m 673≤1 km 71≤10 km 30>10 km 45
819 georeferenced · 317 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor1 136
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.
Coordinate accuracy58% within 1 km
≤100 m 77≤1 km 100≤10 km 110>10 km 18
305 georeferenced · 336 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence641
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions39 of 53 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Claremont, US
122
ASUlocation not on record
75
Riverside, US
68
San Diego, US
54
Phoenix, US
42
CASlocation not on record
27
Bronx, US
22
Logan, US
15
Flagstaff, US
14
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
13
US
13
Davis, US
13
Pullman, US
12
EL PASO, US
12
Mexico City, MX
11
Arcata, US
10
San Luis Obispo, US
8
Mexico City, MX
8
Ensenada, MX
7
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
6
Los Angeles, US
6
Austin, US
5
La Paz, MX
4
Saint Louis, US
4
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
4
Provo, US
3
San Jose, US
3
Bangkok, TH
3
Irvine, US
3
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
2
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
2
Oskarshamn, SE
2
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
2
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
2
Northridge, US
2
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
2
Calabar, NG
2
Santa Barbara, US
2
Angwin, US
2
Henderson, US
2
San Bernardino, US
2
Kew, GB
2
Dresden, DE
1
Dekalb, US
1
Long Beach, US
1
Wellington, NZ
1
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
1
Austin, US
1
Arizona Western Collegelocation not on record
1
Wuzhou, CN
1
University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record
1
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
1
Bloomington, US
1
53 institutions · 624 of 641 vouchered records shown · 17 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Petalonyx thurberi 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
Detections DNA found2
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 2 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median25.8 °C 25.8–25.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter17.5 °C
Max temp (day)34.5 °C
Min temp (night)17.7 °C
Precipitation1.50 mm/mo
Air humidity45.1 %
Moisture balance-201 mm/mo
Vapour deficit1,833 Pa
Wind speed2.70 m/s
Cloud cover18.8 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
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.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 777 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗