Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)
Assessors: Ara Monadjem Peter Taylor Corrie Schoeman Ara Monadjem Lientjie Cohen Kate MacEwan Nico Avenant Julio Balona David Jacobs Leigh Richards Theresa Sethusa
Contributors: Matthew Child Domitilla Raimondo Lizanne Roxburgh
Reviewers: Riccardo Piraccini

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

This species is restricted to South Africa and Lesotho in areas with suitable rock crevices and water sources. It has a large range, with an estimated extent of occurrence of over 400,000 km² and there are more than 20 known locations. This species is highly likely to be under collected and many more subpopulations are suspected to occur, especially within the Nama and Succulent Karoo regions of South Africa. Wind farms represent an emerging threat, as its preferred habitat coincides with suitable wind farm sites. Although declines have been recorded these are not suspected to be at levels high enough to qualify the species for listing under a threat category. However, systematic long-term monitoring should be used to estimate rates of decline across its range, as this species may require reassessing in a threatened category.

Distribution

This species is endemic to South Africa and Lesotho, occurring from the Cedarberg Mountains (Seamark and Brand 2005) south to the Cape Peninsula and east into the Free State and Lesotho, where they are widely distributed (Lynch 1994). They marginally occur in the Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal Province, recorded from Kamberg (Monadjem et al. 2010). Watson (1998) first recorded it from the northern Free State Province. While they have been reported as occurring more widely in the Karoo regions of the Northern Cape Province (Herselman and Norton 1985, Skinner and Chimimba 2005, ACR 2013), this requires confirmation through further field surveys (Monadjem et al. 2010). They have recently been recorded from the Eastern Cape Province, which confirms previous suspicions that the species occurred in the regions between the Lesotho highlands and the Western Cape mountains (Skinner and Chimimba 2005). While Friedmann and Daly (2004) listed it as Near Threatened (although the specific criteria were not provided) due to it being represented by only a few localities (today, there are over 20 locations known), this species is likely to be under sampled and the extent of occurrence (EOO) is too large for a threatened listing.

Population trend

Trend

Although endemic, the species has a wide distribution within the assessment region, despite not being common and very rarely recorded. In the Free State Province of South Africa, a group of approximately 40 individuals was located in a day roost (Watson 1998). In the Western Cape, Cedarberg area, this species made up only 4.6% of the overall catch (Seamark and Brand 2005). In inland Western Cape, near the border with the Northern Cape, a group of approximately 30 individuals was located in a day roost (T. Morgan unpubl. data). Systematic long-term monitoring should be used to estimate rates of decline across its range, as this species may be increasingly threatened by wind farm expansion.  

 

Threats

The species is locally threatened, in parts of its range, by conversion of land to agricultural use (sensu Driver et al. 2012). However, as this species occurs mostly in high-altitude areas, this is not a severe threat. The growing trend of developing wind farms in the eastern parts of South Africa and in Lesotho is starting to pose a threat to this species. The degree of impact and levels of decline to the population are currently unknown and should be monitored.

Uses and trade

This species is not known to be traded. 

Conservation

In the Western Cape, the species is recorded from the three protected areas, Cedarberg Wilderness Area, Gamkaberg Nature Reserve and Karoo National Park; in the Free State the species was recorded in the Golden Gate National Park; in Lesotho it is found in Sehlabathebe National Park, as well as in the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area. No specific interventions are currently necessary, but conservation planning and engagement with the wind energy industry will be needed in future to mitigate subpopulation loss with wind farm construction. 

References 

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,]
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