| IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit |
| Assessment Report | |
| Taxonomy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
| PLANTAE | TRACHEOPHYTA | MAGNOLIOPSIDA | LAMIALES | LAMIACEAE |
| Scientific Name: | Syncolostemon comptonii |
| Species Authority: | Codd |
| Common Name/s: - | |
| Synonym/s: | - |
| Taxonomic Notes: | - |
| Assessment Information | |
|---|---|
| Red List Category & Criteria: | Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) |
| Year Assessed: | 2023 |
| Assessor/s: | Braun, K. |
| Reviewer/s: | Raimondo, D. & Loffler, L. |
| Contributor/s: | |
| Facilitator/s: | |
| Institutions/s: | |
| Justification: This species has a very restricted distribution, and is found only on ultramafic soils, with four known locations. Its calculated extent of occurrence (EOO) was smaller than the area of occupancy (AOO) of 16 km2, so the latter has been used for this assessment. Part of its range falls within a protected area, but the remaining locations are at risk from expansion of forestry plantations and ongoing livestock grazing. Based on this, it has been assessed as Endangered, under Criterion B. | |
| History: | - |
| Geographic Range | |
|---|---|
| Range Description: | It is known only from north west Eswatini, on ultramafic sites in Malolotja Nature Reserve and adjacent areas near the Nkomati River. The detailed locality information is from Donald McCallum's unpublished masters thesis. |
| Countries: | Native: Eswatini; |
| Population | |
|---|---|
| Population: | This species is probably uncommon in the locations where it occurs, and is restricted to the serpentine sites (McCallum, 1999). There have been no surveys of this species undertaken since the year 1999. It is inferred that there is a population decline due to habitat degradation or loss. |
| Population Trend: | Decreasing |
| Habitat and Ecology | |
|---|---|
| Habitat and Ecology: | There is very little information currently available on the habitat and ecology for this species, apart from its requirement for the geology being ultramafic areas. The vegetation types of the areas where it has been recorded are Swaziland Sour Bushveld (SV14) and Barberton Montane Grassland (Gm17) (Mucina et. al., 2018). |
| List of Habitats: | 2 Savanna 2.2 Savanna - Moist 4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude |
| Threats | |
|---|---|
| Major Threat(s): | It is inferred that there is ongoing habitat degradation from livestock grazing and potential habitat loss from expansion of forestry plantations for the portion of this species population, approximately 50%, that occurs outside of the Malolotja Nature Reserve. |
| List of Threats: | 2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.2 Wood & pulp plantations 2.2.2 Agro-industry plantations 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming |
| Conservation Actions | |
|---|---|
| Conservation Actions: | Around half of the range for this species falls within Malolotja Nature Reserve, near the Nkomati River. Seed collection for ex situ conservation would increase the likelihood of survival for this species. Fieldwork to determine the current status of the population is needed, as well as population size and trends. |
| List of Conservation Actions: | 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. McCallum, D. Chapter 4. Conservation Status of Ultramafic Sites and Flora in Swaziland. 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: | - |