Assessment Report - Aeschynomene stipitata

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	FABALES	FABACEAE

Scientific Name:	Aeschynomene stipitata
Species Authority:	Burtt Davy
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	-
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Critically Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K. & Loffler, L.
Reviewer/s:	Raimondo, D.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This species has been found in one confirmed location where it has an extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) of 4 km². It is not possible to determine population trends, but it occurs in an area where there is ongoing decline in habitat quality as a result from both overgrazing and alien invasive plants. More fieldwork might find this species in additional localities. Its extremely limited currently known distribution qualifies this species for a Critically Endangered under criterion B.
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	It is currently known from the Shewula area in the Lubombo Mountains in Eswatini. This species was originally described from a specimen collected by F A Rogers in 1914, with the locality being Mbabane, Swaziland, the type being held by Kew. Material from this same collection is in the Meise Botanic Garden herbarium, but this one has Transvaal as the locality, hence there are high levels of uncertainty linked to where the original specimen was collected. It was found in Eswatini in the Shewula area in the Lubombos in 2017. It is likely that the location information for the type specimen may be incorrect, so for assessment purposes, only the more recent distribution information has been considered.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini;

Geographic Range

Range Description:

It is currently known from the Shewula area in the Lubombo Mountains in Eswatini. This species was originally described from a specimen collected by F A Rogers in 1914, with the locality being Mbabane, Swaziland, the type being held by Kew. Material from this same collection is in the Meise Botanic Garden herbarium, but this one has Transvaal as the locality, hence there are high levels of uncertainty linked to where the original specimen was collected. It was found in Eswatini in the Shewula area in the Lubombos in 2017. It is likely that the location information for the type specimen may be incorrect, so for assessment purposes, only the more recent distribution information has been considered.

Countries:

Native:
Eswatini;

Population
Population:	The 2017 observation indicated that this species was rare within the area surveyed. The population trend is unknown.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	The observation of this species in 2017 recorded this species in an alluvial floodplain area, the vegetation community being Phoenix reclinata - Vitex harveyana - Phyllanthus reticulatus, forming riparian scrub-thicket. The vegetation type as per the Southern African vegetation map is Southern Lebombo Bushveld (SVI16) (Mucina et. al. 2018).
List of Habitats:	2 Savanna 2.2 Savanna - Moist

Threats
Major Threat(s):	This species was observed within the Shewula community conservation area, which is subject to high levels of grazing by cattle, and there is also a threat from competition with alien invasive plants.
List of Threats:	2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming 8 Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases 8.1 Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases 8.1.1 Unspecified species

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	The location where this species was observed in 2017 falls with in the Shewula community conservation area, although this only provides limited protection for the species. This species is a priority for ex situ conservation, and, as it is a legume and therefore unlikely to be recalcitrant, it is probable that seed collection and storage would be appropriate.
List of Conservation Actions:	2 Land/water management 2.1 Site/area management 3 Species management 3.4 Ex-situ conservation 3.4.2 Genome resource bank

Bibliography
	Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A.W., de la Torre, J. and Scott, B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT geospatial conservation tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e-Infrastructure for data publishing in biodiversity science. . ZooKeys 150: 117-126. Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. and Powrie, L.W. (Editors). 2018. The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Available at: http://bgis.sanbi.org/Projects/Detail/186.

Bibliography

Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A.W., de la Torre, J. and Scott, B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT geospatial conservation tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e-Infrastructure for data publishing in biodiversity science. . ZooKeys 150: 117-126.
Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. and Powrie, L.W. (Editors). 2018. The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Available at: http://bgis.sanbi.org/Projects/Detail/186.

Citation: