Assessment Report - Pachycarpus stelliceps

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	GENTIANALES	APOCYNACEAE

Scientific Name:	Pachycarpus stelliceps
Species Authority:	N.E.Br.
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	-
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Critically Endangered D
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K. & Loffler, L.
Reviewer/s:	Raimondo, D.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This species is only known from one area in Eswatini and one record from Mpumalanga, South Africa. It has an extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) of 8 km². The Eswatini location has been developed for housing while the location from Mpumalanga is highly degraded and it is unlikely that a subpopulation is extant there. As a result this species is assessed as Critically Endangered under criterion B but is tagged as Possibly Extinct.
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	This species is known from the Mbabane area in Eswatini, and from the Ermelo area in Mpumalanga.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini; Mpumalanga;

Population
Population:	Known only from three historical records, it is possible that there were two subpopulations of this species . It was first collected by H. Bolus in 1905, from the Mbabane area. No detailed locality information is available for this collection. A second specimen collected by Prof. Compton in 1967 which is in the Pretoria Herbarium was identified as P. stelliceps in 2014. This specimen was collected from Stroma, a farm at the time, now a developed township. It is likely that the precise locality where this plant was found fell within the development area, but there are adjacent hills where it might be found again. The only record from South Africa is from a farm on the boundary of the town of Ermelo, the majority of the habitat there has either been transformed or is highly degraded, it is unlikely that a subpopulation still occurs there.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Population

Population:

Known only from three historical records, it is possible that there were two subpopulations of this species . It was first collected by H. Bolus in 1905, from the Mbabane area. No detailed locality information is available for this collection. A second specimen collected by Prof. Compton in 1967 which is in the Pretoria Herbarium was identified as P. stelliceps in 2014. This specimen was collected from Stroma, a farm at the time, now a developed township. It is likely that the precise locality where this plant was found fell within the development area, but there are adjacent hills where it might be found again. The only record from South Africa is from a farm on the boundary of the town of Ermelo, the majority of the habitat there has either been transformed or is highly degraded, it is unlikely that a subpopulation still occurs there.

Population Trend:

Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	In Eswatini, based on the information from the two historical records, it has been assumed that the habitat for this species is grassland with rocky hilltops. The South African record from the Ermelo area would also be grassland. The vegetation type is KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16) (Mucina et. al., 2018).
List of Habitats:	4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Threats
Major Threat(s):	One of the Eswatini records was from an area now a developed township, the other without detailed locality information. As the area has developed considerably over the years since it was last recorded, it is possible that this species has been lost from this area. However, there are areas of natural vegetation still remaining nearby, so it is not impossible that future surveys could find this species. The historic locality from South Africa is from a livestock farm on the boundary of the town of Ermelo, from satellite imagery the habitat looks highly degraded. Inferred threats include habitat loss due to urban expansion and habitat degradation due to livestock grazing and burning.
List of Threats:	1 Residential & commercial development 1.1 Housing & urban areas 2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Threats

Major Threat(s):

One of the Eswatini records was from an area now a developed township, the other without detailed locality information. As the area has developed considerably over the years since it was last recorded, it is possible that this species has been lost from this area. However, there are areas of natural vegetation still remaining nearby, so it is not impossible that future surveys could find this species. The historic locality from South Africa is from a livestock farm on the boundary of the town of Ermelo, from satellite imagery the habitat looks highly degraded. Inferred threats include habitat loss due to urban expansion and habitat degradation due to livestock grazing and burning.

List of Threats:

1 Residential & commercial development
1.1 Housing & urban areas
2 Agriculture & aquaculture
2.3 Livestock farming & ranching
2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	There is currently no conservation within the general area where this species was recorded. If this species is found on nearby hills, conservation actions to prevent its extinction would be desirable. Very little information is currently available on this species, but based on the locality information for the record collected by Prof. Compton in 1956, it would appear to be found in rocky grassland on hilltop areas. This habitat contains many potentially threatened plant species, so the introduction of some form of protection for this habitat in the Mbabane area would reduce the probability of loss of many of these species. Fieldwork is required to determine whether this species still exists in the wild. If this plant can be located again, collection of seed for ex-situ conservation would be a way of ensuring its survival. Research into this plant's life history and ecology would also assist with conservation planning.
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

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions:

There is currently no conservation within the general area where this species was recorded. If this species is found on nearby hills, conservation actions to prevent its extinction would be desirable. Very little information is currently available on this species, but based on the locality information for the record collected by Prof. Compton in 1956, it would appear to be found in rocky grassland on hilltop areas. This habitat contains many potentially threatened plant species, so the introduction of some form of protection for this habitat in the Mbabane area would reduce the probability of loss of many of these species. Fieldwork is required to determine whether this species still exists in the wild. If this plant can be located again, collection of seed for ex-situ conservation would be a way of ensuring its survival. Research into this plant's life history and ecology would also assist with conservation planning.

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: