| IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit |
| Assessment Report | |
| Taxonomy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
| PLANTAE | TRACHEOPHYTA | MAGNOLIOPSIDA | LAMIALES | ACANTHACEAE |
| Scientific Name: | Asystasia hirsuta |
| Species Authority: | (T.J.Edwards) I.Darbysh. & E.A.Tripp |
| Common Name/s: - | |
| Synonym/s: | Salpinctium hirsutum T.J.Edwards |
| Taxonomic Notes: | - |
| Assessment Information | |
|---|---|
| Red List Category & Criteria: | Vulnerable B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) |
| Year Assessed: | 2023 |
| Assessor/s: | Braun, K. |
| Reviewer/s: | |
| Contributor/s: | |
| Facilitator/s: | |
| Institutions/s: | |
| Justification: Asystasia hirsuta has a restricted distribution, with an estimated extent of occurrence of 6,923.895 km2 and an area of occupancy of 24 km2. The areas where this species has been found are subjected to the threat of habitat destruction by ongoing livestock grazing, and in some parts of its range, to urban development. Based on this, it has been assessed as Vulnerable, under Criteria B1 and B2. Date last seen: 2021 | |
| History: | - |
| Geographic Range | |
|---|---|
| Range Description: | This species has been recorded from five widely spread localities within Eswatini, four highveld and one in the Lubombo mountains. There is also a record from South Africa, near Nelspruit, making this species a near endemic for Eswatini. |
| Countries: | Native: Eswatini; Mpumalanga; |
| Population | |
|---|---|
| Population: | No population surveys have been carried out for this species. For the purposes of this assessment, the localities of older records have been included, as, at the time of this assessment, there is no evidence to indicate that the plant no longer exists in these areas. Where this species has been observed recently, it was uncommon, with two individuals observed in the area visited. |
| Population Trend: | Unknown |
| Habitat and Ecology | |
|---|---|
| Habitat and Ecology: | This species has been observed in vegetation type KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16) in the Eswatini highveld, and in vegetation type Southern Lebombo Bushveld (SVI16) in the Lubombo Mountains. In South Africa, based on a rough estimate of the locality, it was recorded from Barberton Serpentine Sourveld (SVI13) (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): | The recent observations of this species in the Eswatini highveld were in an area subject to heavy grazing and adjacent to expanding urban development. This also applies to the earlier record from the same general area, near the Ngwenya/Oshoek border. |
| 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: | None of the records for this species have been from within an existing conservation area. |
| 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 AW, 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: | - |