Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)

Rationale

Paragomphus genei is a widespread species with no known major threats and it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a threatened category. It is therefore assessed as Least Concern. However, some disjunct subpopulations in Europe and Arabia deserve conservation attention.

Distribution

Paragomphus genei is widespread in Africa (except in dense forests), the Levant, Arabia and southern Europe. It probably occurs in most of the Afrotropical countries, although records from many are still wanting. There are aggregates of localities in southern Europe in Iberia, Sardinia and Sicily, as well in the Maghreb, the Levant and southern Arabia, plus scattered records in time and space in Algeria, Morocco, Corsica and Chad (Testard 1975). No records are available from Libya but this species is likely to be present there. A single old record from Egypt probably refers to Paragomphus pumilio. Insular melanic subpopulations are known from the Comoros Archipelago (Levasseur 2007).

Population trend

Trend

In central, eastern and southern Africa, this species often has enormous larval populations of up to 100 individuals per square metre in perennial sections of ephemeral rivers. The same situation is known in Tunisia but the abundance of this species is generally much variable in northern Africa and southern Europe. The population size is unknown in the Arabian Peninsular.

Threats

There are no threats at the global scale, although local declines may occur due to habitat modification (dams, water extraction, agriculture) and water pollution. Climate change may be a threat in the future.

Uses and trade

This species is not utilised.

Conservation

This species is widespread with no threats at the global scale and therefore does not need any conservation actions. On a regional scale, protection of the habitat is needed, particularly in the Mediterranean basin. As this species is highly variable in terms of its colour pattern, from the quasi-absence of melanin to entirely black subpopulations, additional research in the field of genetic variability and taxonomy would be welcomed.

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