696 Conservation News
Dhanusha, Nepal. 3Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
The mothHelicoverpaarmigerais a leading cause of the decline of the Endangered golden Himalayan spike Phlomoidessuperba
The impacts of invasive invertebrates on plants are primarily studied on cultivated crops, with the effects onwild and threa- tened species mostly overlooked. The genus Phlomoides (Lamiaceae; common names include Jerusalem sage and Lampwick plant) comprises 174 species primarily occurring in Asia and some parts of Europe. The golden Himalayan spike Phlomoides superba (syn. Eremostachys superba)isan Endangered species (Srivastava et al., 2017, Journal of Threatened Taxa, 9, 10089–10095) endemic to the western Himalayanfoothills of easternAfghanistan,Pakistanand India, at altitudes of 450–800 m. There are concerns regarding its decline in natural habitats in several locations. The reasons are still poorly understood but low regeneration potential is one possible cause. In 2020, the species disappeared from its type locality inMohand Pass, Dehradun, India.
In May 2023, we discovered that the major cause of the
decline of P. superba appears to be infestation by an insect pest whose larvae feed on its seeds, leading to seed loss and thus affecting regeneration. In April 2024, we collected 20 larvae from three populations of P. superba in Jammu, India, and from plants growing in the garden of the Botanical Survey of India, Dehradun. We kept the larvae in transparent glass bottles for 25–32 days until pupation and emergence of the adult, which was then identified as the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a polyphagous, invasive moth globally recog- nized as a pest of c. 200 crops. From 1st to 3rd instar stage the larvae mainly feed on the tender leaves and then migrate to the seed capsules; we observed 90–95%seed loss in highly infested populations. Major infestations were found on P. superba near crop fields or human settlements. In ex situ conservation conditions, P. superba is growing well and re- generating at the Botanical Survey of India, Dehradun, where regular pesticide treatment controls the infestation, resulting in 95% seed survival and 84% seed germination. The shift of crop pests towild, threatened species needs to
be monitored as many native and endemic species do not have natural defences against attacks by invasive pests. This discovery of the impact of H. armigera on a threatened wild plant species will be of help in development of a conser- vation protocol to address the ongoing decline of P. superba.
AMBER SRIVASTAVA1 and SHIVANI SHARMA2 (
shiva.skt.03@
gmail.com) 1Botanical Survey of India, Northern Regional Centre,
Dehradun, India. 2Zoological Survey of India, Northern Regional Centre, Dehradun, India
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
New subpopulations of three threatened plant species endemic to the karstic areas of the Potiguar Basin, Brazil
Helicoverpa armigera infestation on Phlomoides superba:(a–d) 3rd–6th instar larval stage feeding on seed capsules, (e) final instar and emptied seed capsules, (f) female adult moth. Photos: Amber Srivstava.
The flora of the karstic areas discontinuously exposed in the Potiguar Basin in north-east Brazil is poorly studied. However, three annual herbaceous flowering plant species have recently been described as endemic to these areas: Borreria apodiensis (Souza et al., 2016, Acta Botanica Brasilica, 30, 283–289), Ipomoea apodiensis (Wood et al., 2020, PhytoKeys, 143, 1–823) and Pectis loiolae (Rebouças et al., 2021, Systematic Botany, 46, 486–492), known from five, two and one locations, respectively. Ipomoea apodien- sis is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and recommendations have been made to categorize B. apodiensis and P. loiolae as Endangered and Data De- ficient, respectively. During February–July 2024, as part of project no. PIA10010-2022, we surveyed for new subpopulations of
Oryx, 2024, 58(6), 689–699 © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324001522
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
