SANBI

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

This taxon ranges from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in South Africa up to southern Mozambique (EOO 79 942 km<sup>2</sup>). The number of locations is about 20. The taxon’s habitat is mostly not severely fragmented except for some subpopulations outside protected areas. It has not been recorded for many years in at least three of its locations. The Shongweni location has been well explored in recent years and the butterfly has not been seen there since 1974. Although some of its localities are inside protected areas (False Bay Park, Phinda Resources Reserve), the Makathini flats area is under severe pressure from agriculture and human settlement. Shongweni Reserve has been handed over to the local community after a land claim, and this brings a risk of overgrazing, timber use and human settlement. Maputaland faces a possible future threat of deltamethrin spraying to control tsetse fly, in preparation for sterile male release (A. Armstrong, pers comm, and www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/ipc/tsetse-flies.html). Such actions would threaten more than half of the known subpopulations, and most of the recently observed ones. The taxon thus qualifies globally under the IUCN criteria as Least Concern and is nationally classified as Rare (Low Density).

Distribution

Occurs in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa, near Kenton-on-Sea in the south, northwards along the eastern coastal and sub-coastal region. It is also found in southern Mozambique.

Decline

"The subpopulation on the Makathini Flats is under threat from agriculture and human settlement; it has not been seen there for at over 20 years. The subpopulation at Shongweni Nature Reserve has not been seen since 1974 despite regular visits from lepidopterists. The subpopulation at Vernon Crookes has not been seen since 1990 - and the area has been subject to a successful land claim, so is under threat from human settlement and agriculture. \nOther subpopulations have not been seen for some time, including those at Kosi Bay and Mangusi, which have not been recorded since the early 2000\u{2019}s. The Port Alfred subpopulation has not been seen since 1997. The East London (Buffalo Pass) subpopulation, which is under threat from urbanisation and other butterflies known from there have not been seen for the same length of time - since 1981. The Cwebe Forest subpopulation was last recorded in 1981.\n"

Habitat View more ecological information

Population trend

Trend

Colonies are small and usually concentrated around a single tree. They are known to abandon these trees and reappear elsewhere in the close vicinity (S. Woodhall, pers. obs. from observations at Makathini Flats where a subpopulation was known from one tree in the early 1980s, which then disappeared and a new subpopulation appeared nearby approximately 100m away about ten years later in the 1990s). Within the EOO area there appear to be nine subpopulations made up of about 24 colonies, although some of these have not been seen for many years, possibly because of the secretive and unobtrusive nature of the adults.

Threats

This taxon faces a variety of threats. Some of the subpopulations in Maputaland are in protected areas, such as Sileza Nature Reserve, Manguzi Forest Reserve, False Bay Park and Kosi Bay Nature Reserve. Others are inside private nature reserves such as Phinda Private Nature Reserve and Sobhengu/Nibela Lodge. Manguzi is under threat from illegal wood gathering and forest clearance, which is not being controlled by the authorities. The subpopulation near Mbazwana on the Makathini Flats is under threat from bush clearance and small scale farming. Other subpopulations outside Maputaland are in protected areas – Nkandla Forest, Shongweni Nature Reserve, Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve and Dwesa-Cwebe Wildlife Reserve. But two of these have been subject to successful land claims and face threats of small scale agriculture, overgrazing and informal settlements. The subpopulation at Marracuene in Mozambique is inside a popular tourist resort, so is under threat from development.

Conservation

The known locations in protected areas need to be studied so as to ascertain the requirements for effective habitat protection. Areas outside protected areas should be considered for local protection from bush clearance and small scale farming.

References

[@book{772,
 address = {Johannesburg &Cape Town},
 author = {Mecenero, S., Ball, J.B., Edge, D.A., Hamer, M.L., Henning, G.A., Krüger, M., Pringle, E.L., Terblanche, R.F. & Williams, M.C. (eds)},
 publisher = {Saftronics (pty) Ltd and  Animal Demography Unit, University of Cape Town},
 title = {Conservation assessment of butterflies of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland: Red List and Atlas.},
 year = {2013}
}
,@book{772,
 address = {Pretoria},
 author = {Henning, G.A., Terblanche, R.F. & Ball, J.B. (eds)},
 publisher = {South African National Biodiversity Institute},
 title = {South African Red Data Book: butterflies. SANBI Biodiversity Series},
 year = {2009}
}
,@article{772,
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 journal = {South African National Biodiversity Institute},
 pages = {0},
 title = { Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland [vector geospatial dataset] 2012. Available from the Biodiversity GIS website.},
 volume = {0},
 year = {2012}
}
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 title = {Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa.},
 year = {2005}
}
,@book{882,
 address = {Cape Town},
 author = {Pringle, E.L., Henning, G.A. & Ball, J.B. (eds)},
 publisher = {Struik-Winchester},
 title = {Pennington's Butterflies of southern Africa.},
 year = {1994}
}
,@book{890,
 address = {Pretoria},
 author = {Henning, S.F. & Henning, G.A.},
 publisher = {Council for Scientific and Industrial Research},
 title = {South Africa Red Data Book - Butterflies.},
 year = {1989}
}
,@book{893,
 author = {Williams, M.C.},
 publisher = {CD-ROM. Available from the author at mark.williams[at]up.ac.za.},
 title = {Butterflies and skippers of the Afrotropical Region.},
 year = {2016}
}
,@book{10844,
 address = {Halfway House},
 author = {Williams, M.C.},
 publisher = {Southern Book Publishers},
 title = {Butterflies of Southern Africa: A Field Guide.},
 year = {1994}
}
,@article{168308409,
 author = {Pringle, E.L.},
 journal = {Metamorphosis},
 pages = {109--111},
 title = {The final instar larva and the pupa of <i>Deloneura millari millari</i> Trimen (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae).},
 volume = {13},
 year = {2002}
}
,]

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