NEWS

Two species of plants first collected by botanists more than 125 years ago from Meghalaya and the Andaman Islands are now extinct in the wild

ABOUT

• Classified under the genus Boesenbergia, the species belong to the family of Zingiberaceae, the ginger family of flowering plants.
• Boesenbergia rubrolutea was first collected from the Khasi Hills, Thera, in Meghalaya on October 10, 1886.
• Specimens of Boesenbergia albolutea were collected from the Andamans and sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, in 1889.
• Possible reasons for their disappearance include climate change, human interference and overexploitation or natural calamities

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

IUCN RED LIST

• Full name – IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List)
• Founded in 1964
• World’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species (Animal, fungus and plant species).
• Authority – International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Updated at least twice per year
• Categories in the IUCN red list:
  • Extinct (EX) – No known individuals remaining.
  • Extinct in the wild (EW) – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range.
  • Critically endangered (CR) – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
  • Endangered (EN) – High risk of extinction in the wild.
  • Vulnerable (VU) – High risk of endangerment in the wild.
  • Near threatened (NT) – Likely to become endangered soon.
  • Least concern (LC) – Lowest risk. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.
  • Data deficient (DD) – Not enough data to assess its risk of extinction.
  • Not evaluated (NE) – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria