SANBI

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

In the 1980s, there were several unsuccessful searches for Tetradactylus eastwoodae using drift fences, pitfall and funnel traps, as well as active searching. Surveys were conducted in the last remaining patches of open grassland in the Haenertsburg area ((Jacobsen 1988, 1989) e.g. in a small, now degraded area close to a stream between Woodbush Forest and Haenertsburg (this may have been where Wager collected a specimen), as well as an open area of grassland and fynbos-like vegetation adjacent to a forest that had not been burnt for about 20 years. Subsequently, in April 2008, a 10-day survey was conducted in grasslands in the Woodbush-Haenertsburg area employing both active searching and drift fence trapping, in a concerted but also unsuccessful attempt to re-discover this species (Bates et al. 2012). No known captive specimens have ever been reported or are suspected to exist, so Eastwood’s Long-tailed Seps is now considered Extinct.

Distribution

Endemic to the Woodbush-Haenertsburg area in Limpopo, South Africa. The type locality is “the Woodbush (Zoutpansberg District)” (Hewitt and Methuen 1913), but much of the Woodbush area is now under exotic (especially pine) plantations (Jacobsen 1988, 1989). However, according to the book Between Woodbush and Wolkberg: The Googoo Thompson's Story (Wongtschowski 1990) the collector, Miss Eastwood (later Thompson), recalls collecting the holotype on the farm Clear Waters (the family’s name for the farm Broedersdrift 958LS), which is situated a few kilometres southwest of Woodbush (indigenous) Forest. The term ‘Woodbush’ may have been used in a broad sense to mean the area in the vicinity of Woodbush Forest, but we here restrict the type locality of Tetradactylus eastwoodae to the farm Broedersdrift 958, Pietersburg district (23°52'30"S, 29°57'E).

Habitat View more ecological information

Population trend

Trend

Attempts to collect specimens - in grasslands in the vicinity of the type locality in the 1980s and in were all unsuccessful (Jacobsen 1988, 1989, Bates et al. 2014).

Threats

The habitat of this species has been largely destroyed by afforestation (pines and bluegums). Woodbush Granite Grassland is a Critically Endangered vegetation type that is negatively affected by bush encroachment, worsened due to the exclusion of fires (Mucina et al. 2006). However, frequent and severe fires are also threats should any populations still survive (Jacobsen 1989) noted the destruction caused by the annual burning of remnant grasslands for firebreaks between plantations at Woodbush and Haenertsburg. Cultivation and urban development have played a minor role in land transformation in this vegetation type (Mucina et al. 2006).

Uses and trade

No collecting known since capture of the only two specimens recorded in 1911 and 1928.

Conservation

Conservation measures can only be instigated if a surviving population of this species is discovered. There is therefore a need to conduct more surveys in patches of surviving grassland in the Woodbush, Haenertsburg and Wolkberg areas (see Dzerefos 2004, Mucina et al. 2006) using drift fences with pitfall and funnel traps. Mucina et al. (2006) noted that there are no conservation areas protecting any part of the Woodbush Granite Grassland.

References

[@electronic{181632,
 address = {www.iucnredlist.org},
 author = {IUCN},
 title = {The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018-2},
 year = {2018}
}
,@article{3069,
 author = {McLachlan, A.},
 journal = {South African National Scientific Programmes Report},
 number = {23},
 title = {South African Red Data Book - Reptiles and Amphibians},
 year = {1978}
}
,@book{19520513,
 address = {Pretoria, South Africa.},
 author = {Mucina, L. and Rutherford, M.C.},
 publisher = {Strelitzia 19. South African National Biodiversity Institute},
 title = {The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland},
 year = {2006}
}
,@book{612,
 address = {Pretoria},
 author = {Bates, M.F., Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M., Burger, M., Marais, J., Alexander, G.J. and de Villiers, M.S.},
 publisher = {Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute},
 title = {Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland},
 year = {2014}
}
,@techreport{5336,
 address = {Pretoria, South Africa},
 author = {Jacobsen, N.H.G.},
 institution = {Chief Directorate of Nature and Environmental Conservation},
 title = {The distribution and conservation status of reptiles and amphibians in the Transvaal. Final Report Project TN 6/4/1/30},
 year = {1989}
}
,@inbook{21663,
 address = {Pretoria, South Africa},
 author = {de Villiers, M.S. and Burger, M.},
 booktitle = {The Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment: Win Some, Lose Some},
 publisher = {SANBI},
 title = {Threatened Species Newsletter (Aug 2008)},
 year = {2008}
}
,@article{21663,
 author = {Dzerefos, C.},
 journal = {Veld and Flora},
 number = {1},
 pages = {18--19},
 title = {Yesterday, today and tomorrow: The story of the Haenertsburg Grasslands of Limpopo},
 volume = {90},
 year = {2004}
}
,@article{21663,
 author = {Hewitt, J. and Methuen, P.A.},
 journal = {Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa},
 pages = {107–111},
 title = {Descriptions of some new Batrachia and Lacertilia from South Africa},
 volume = {3},
 year = {1913}
}
,@book{21663,
 address = {Haenertsburg},
 author = {Wongtschowski, B.},
 publisher = {B.E.H. Wongtschowski},
 title = {Between Woodbush and Wolkberg: Googoo Thompson’s Story},
 year = {1990}
}
,]

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