Assessment Report - Leobordea spicata

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	FABALES	FABACEAE

Scientific Name:	Leobordea spicata
Species Authority:	(Compton) B.-E.van Wyk & Boatwr.
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	Lotononis spicata Compton
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K.
Reviewer/s:	Raimondo, D.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This species has a very restricted distribution, with an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 815.601 km² and an area of occupancy (AOO) of 16 km². It is known from four locations, and the majority of the population is under threat from overgrazing by livestock resulting in ongoing habitat degradation. Based on this, it has been assessed as Endangered, under Criterion B.
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	This species is known the Eswatini highveld, the distribution extending from the Mankayane area in the south to the mountains near Maguga in the north.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini;

Population
Population:	It is known from five records, probably from four locations, within the Eswatini highveld. No population surveys have been carried out, and the most recent records for this species are from 1994. This species requires taxonomic experts to distinguish it from other close relatives. It is therefore difficult to assess the current status of the population, the population trend is unknown.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	This species has been found in vegetation type KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16) (Mucina et. al. 2018). The type specimen was recorded from a sandy stony plateau area, after fire.
List of Habitats:	4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Threats
Major Threat(s):	This species is only known from the highveld grassland areas in Eswatini, and is under threat from ongoing heavy grazing.
List of Threats:	2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	One of the four known locations for this species is within Malolotja Nature Reserve, in the Ngwenya Mountains.
List of Conservation Actions:	1 Land/water protection 1.2 Resource & habitat protection 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: