Conophytum regale Lavis

국표에 없다.

Distribution
Endemism	South African endemic
Provincial distribution	Northern Cape
Range	This species is endemic to the Northern Cape province of South Africa where it is only found in a single location with a severely restricted geographic range.
Habitat and Ecology
Major system	Terrestrial
Major habitats	Namaqualand Klipkoppe Shrubland
Description	This succulent is endemic to the Namaqualand Hardeveld bioregion of the Succulent Karoo biome. The plants occupy a sheltered position in cracks and crevices on large quartz boulders. 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
It is currently threatened by illegal collection for the international trade in ornamental succulents. The very small population of plants are severely range-restricted which renders them highly susceptible to a rapid decline in number through collection or other adverse events. As a result a population decline of 95-100% is likely over one generations (30 years). 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. However, as this taxon typically occurs in a sheltered habitat and possesses certain traits likely to afford resilience to xerophytic conditions it is expected to have a level of resilience to climate change and the expected population loss is reduced by 20% to 52%. Species in this genus have limited dispersal ability and migration to suitable habitats elsewhere is regarded as highly unlikely.
Population
This species has only been reported from a single quartz ridge. Searches in the immediate vicinity have failed to discover any additional subpopulations. However, photo evidence obtained from poachers suggests that a second site may exist. Just 130 mature individuals were recorded from the only known locality by South African National Biodiversity Institute in 2021. The population is in decline due to illegal collection to supply the international trade in ornamental succulents.
Population trend	Decreasing

Threatened Species Programme | SANBI Red List of South African Plants

Conophytum, Lithops & Co | Conophytum regale Lavis (1934) (cactuspro.com)