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Scientific Name | Conophytum confusum A.J.Young, Rodgerson, S.A.Hammer & Opel |
Higher Classification | Dicotyledons |
Family | AIZOACEAE |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Critically Endangered A4ad; B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v) |
Assessment Date | 2021/10/14 |
Assessor(s) | A.J. Young, P.G. Desmet, I. Ebrahim, D. Guo, A. Harrower, L. Jabar, L. Knoetze, C. Rodgerson, P.C.V. Van Wyk & N.N. Mhlongo |
Justification | This dwarf succulent species is endemic to the Northern Cape province of South Africa where it is only recorded from a single location with an extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) of 4 km². Loss of vegetation cover at this site indicates a decline in habitat quality. The small population has experienced serious decline due to illegal collection for the specialist succulent trade and fewer than 100 mature individuals are likely to remain. A majority of plants have therefore been removed from the only known locality in a very short period and the remaining plants are threatened. A complete loss of 100% of mature individuals is likely within the next 10 years. It therefore qualifies as Critically Endangered under criteria A4 and B1+2. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Northern Cape |
Range | This species is endemic to a small part of the Northern Cape province of South Africa where it is only found in a single location with a restricted geographic range. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Succulent Karoo |
Description | This species is endemic to the Namaqualand Hardeveld bioregion of the Succulent Karoo biome. Plants are restricted to a single severely range limited locality on a quartz ridge in a remote area. They are typically found in part shade in cracks and crevices in large quartz boulders and amongst small quartz stones. This species has a generation length of 30 years. It is expected to be sensitive to the impacts of climate change as it does not disperse and while adapted to arid conditions, is dependent on limited seasonal rainfall. Species in the genus are sensitive to long periods of drought. Drought related mortality has been observed for other closely related taxa within the genus. |
Threats |
| This succulent is severely threatened by harvesting for the specialist succulent trade and is close to extinction in the wild as a direct result. Monitoring of social media has shown that a substantial number of mature individuals (probably representing 90% of the population) were illegally removed from habitat since 2019. This species is only known from a single location making the species very sensitive to such activity.
Anthropogenic climate change is a long-term threat to this species. Loss of vegetation cover has been observed at this site via Landsat imagery between 1984 and 2018 and is used to infer that the habitat quality is already in decline. While it is not possible to model the response of this species to climate change due to its restricted distribution, the average loss to climate change for 15 more widely distributed Conophytum species occurring within the same region is used as an indication of likely impact to this species. Climate models for the likely emission scenarios where emissions stay at present day levels (RCP 2.6) (Hausfather and Peters 2020) and worst case scenarios where emissions continue to increase during the 21st century (RCP 8.5) indicate that there will be a loss of suitable bioclimatic envelope of between 72% and 99% by 2080 for Conophytum taxa within the region. |
Population |
This species is highly localised on a small part of a quartz ridge. Previous estimates put the population size at <500 plants. There is some uncertainty with respect to its current status but the population is believed to have experienced a severe decline since 2020. This succulent is extremely difficult to distinguish from a closely related species that was known to be subject to illegal collection that removed >90% of mature individuals (SANBI field survey 2021) in 2021. Both species live in very close vicinity of each other at the only known locality and it is almost certain that both were collected since 2020. It is suspected that fewer than 100 mature individuals remain in habitat.
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Population trend | Decreasing |
Bibliography |
Hammer, S. 2002. Dumpling and his wife: New view of the genus Conophytum. EAE Creative Colour, Norwich.
Hammer, S.A. 1993. The genus Conophytum: A conograph. Succulent Plant Publications, Pretoria.
Hausfather, Z. and Peters, G.P. 2020. Emissions - the 'business as usual' story is misleading. Nature 577(618-620).
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Citation |
| Young, A.J., Desmet, P.G., Ebrahim, I., Guo, D., Harrower, A., Jabar, L., Knoetze, L., Rodgerson, C., Van Wyk, P.C.V. & Mhlongo, N.N. 2021. Conophytum confusum A.J.Young, Rodgerson, S.A.Hammer & Opel. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2024/12/06 |
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