CONSERVATION
IUCN Redlist category Least Concern (IUCN 2020)
Rationale for redlist categorization Atrophaneura sycorax has been assessed as Least Concern. This species has a relatively wide range from Myanmar to the Malayan Peninsular and Indonesia, with an extent of occurrence of over 1.5 million km2. There are likely threats to the species across its range, such as the threatened status of its food plant in Peninsular Malaysia and deforestation, logging and palm oil plantations which cause habitat loss. As a result, certain subspecies may have a heightened extinction risk and may require sub-specific extinction risk assessments. (IUCN 2020)
Threat category Ecosystem conversion|Ecosystem degradation,Other (IUCN 2020)
Cause of stress (IUCN 2020)
Described Threats There is very little information on the threats to this species in the literature. Although found in trade, it is unknown whether this has a significant impact on the species. Across the range of this species however, there may be localised threats in particular localities, regions or affecting certain subspecies. For example, in Peninsular Malaysia the largest threat is likely to be the destruction of the host plant, which now has an endangered status as two of its known localities are found on private, unprotected land (Yao 2015). The land in Gunung Leuser National Park is not safe from destruction, and deforestation, logging and palm oil plantations are causing degradation of the land (Davies 2018), therefore this could be adversely affecting this species. (IUCN 2020)
Commercial use Specimens of this species are sold online, for example on 'Ianni Butterfly Enterprises' for $46.50 and on 'Insects & more' for €180 (October 2018). Further information on trade is unavailable. (IUCN 2020)
Kind of conservation needed Resource & habitat protection,Site/area protection (IUCN 2020)
Applied conservation actions In their 1985 status assessment of the world's swallowtails, Collins and Morris found this species to be not threatened. Already some areas where this species are found are protected, for example in the case of the Gunung Leuser National Park, however more stringent protection of the land in this National Park is important to ensure the future survival of subspecies A. s. sycorax (Davies 2018). This species has been bred in captivity, in the Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary of Ayer Keroh in 2018, and this may be important in the future if the population size of this species decreases. Another important conservation measure is protecting the endangered host plant found in Peninsular Malaysia (Yao 2015), to ensure the continued survival of the subspecies A. s. egertoni here. Further research into whether trade is a threat to this species would be beneficial, and population monitoring is recommended to assess the impact of threats and effectiveness of conservation measures. (IUCN 2020)
REFERENCES
- Davies, A. 2018. Destroying the World's Lungs: Devastating Effect of Palm Oil On Indonesian Rainforest. Available at: http://www.barcroft.tv/deforestation-palm-oil-orangutan-gunung-leuser-national-park. (Accessed: 2nd October 2018).
- IUCN. 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-3. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 December 2020).
- Yao, T. L. 2015. Aristolochiaceae. ResearchGate.