New distributional records and conservation implications for the threatened Sumatra endemic Nepenthes lavicola Wistuba & Rischer (Nepenthaceae)

Nepenthes lavicola Wistuba & Rischer (Nepenthaceae) is a pitcher plant endemic to the northern tip of Sumatra Island, Indonesia. Due to its narrow geographic distribution and threats from a volcanic eruption and illegal harvesting by pitcher plant hunters, N. lavicola was assessed as Critically Endangered (CR) under criteria B1 + 2c of the IUCN Red List in 2000. Here, we report two new additional locations of N. lavicola in Aceh Tengah Re-gency, along with the population data and habitat characteristics of the species in each location. Based on our findings, we propose Endangered (EN) B1ab(iii) + 2ab(iii),C2a(i) as the new conservation status of N. lavicola. The new proposed status has a lower category of threat than the current status of the species. Nevertheless, under the new category, N. lavicola is still considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. Comprehensive and immediate conservation actions are required to halt the species from extinction.