Afrothismia hydra

Forests around Diongo are disturbed and many are now a mosaic of forest, agriculture, and settlements (PNDP 2011). Diongo community forest is threatened by illegal logging and the collection locality of this species is near to a logging concession (Cheek and Onana 2011, Global Forest Watch 2020). The forest is also threatened by agricultural activity, mainly oil palm and cocoa cultivation but also small-scale shifting cultivation (Cheek and Onana 2011, PNDP 2011). The collection locality is very near to an oil palm concession (Global Forest Watch 2020). One of the main exports from Cameroon is petroleum oil (Onana and Cheek 2011, Fotso et al. 2001), and Diongo is situated within the Ndian River block which has been explored for oil and gas (SNH 2019). This block is a potential location for future oil extractions, which may pose a threat to this species (SNH 2019). The other collection locality in Cameroon, Korup National Park, is also threatened by the encroachment of agriculture from both the large industrial oil palm plantations that border the park, and from subsistence farming from villages within the park (Fotso et al. 2001, Google Earth 2020, Global Forest Watch 2020). The park is also threatened by logging and there are several logging concessions to the north and the east of the park (Global Forest Watch 2020). Additionally, there is a mining concession at the northeast of the park (Global Forest Watch 2020). Nonetheless, the site at Korup is believed to be relatively secure (Onana and Cheek 2011). In Nigeria, the species has been found within Akure Forest Reserve. Forest cover in Akure Forest Reserve is declining: in 1986, undisturbed forest covered 63.3% of the Akure Forest Reserve but by 2017 this had decreased to 32.1% (Gbiri and Adeoye 2019). There are a number of small settlements on the edge of the reserve (Gbiri and Adeoye 2019), and it is near to the large city of Akure which has dramatically expanded since this species was collected (Google Earth 2020). Farming is the main occupation of communities of the reserve and the amount of farmland has increased since this species was collected, particularly due to cocoa and banana plantations (Foli and Kleine 2014, Gbiri and Adeoye 2019, Google Earth 2020). The reserve has also been subject to logging (Foli and Kleine 2014, Gbiri and Adeoye 2019) and a dam has been constructed in the North West of the reserve (Gbiri and Adeoye 2019, Google Earth 2020).