Red List of South African Species

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Endangered (EN)
Assessors: Jeremy Dobson Chris Dobson
Facilitators: Mark Williams
Reviewers: Silvia Kirkman Domitilla Raimondo Rolf Oberprieler

Rationale

A range-restricted species endemic to the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (EOO 3 646 km<sup>2</sup>). There are three locations (Cintsa East, Mbulu and Dwesa), two of which are experiencing a decline in both the extent and quality of habitat (Cintsa East and Mbulu). At Cintsa East this is a result of expanding residential development and associated infrastructure combined with invasion of alien plant species, such as <i>Lantana camara</i> and <i>Psidium guajava</i>. The Mbulu site is subjected to intense overgrazing (primarily by goats) and trees are being cut for firewood at an unsustainable level. The taxon thus qualifies globally under the IUCN criteria as Endangered under criterion B. The previous assessment was based on unverified data. The 2018 assessment made use of verified data which resulted in a large reduction in the EOO. The EOO would have been the same during the previous assessment if the verified data had been used then too, thus the change in status from Near Threatened to Endangered is non-genuine.

Distribution

Endemic to the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, from Cintsa East in the south, inland to Mbulu in the west and up the coast to Dwesa in the north.

Decline

"The extent and quality of both the coastal and inland habitats occupied by this species are declining. Some of the coastal areas are impacted by new residential developments and associated infrastructure. Inland, the areas of occupation are being overgrazed by goats and there is a decline in the extent of wooded areas because of trees being cut down for firewood.\n\n\n"

Population trend

Trend

There is no information available.

Threats

The main threats to this species are related to habitat reduction and deterioration. Expanding residential development (coastal areas) and overgrazing/deforestation within the inland sites. The location at Cintsa East is increasingly being overgrown with alien vegetation, mainly <i>Lantana camara</i> and <i>Psidium guajava</i>.

Conservation

There are no conservation measures currently in place and none of the listed actions are appropriate or are likely to receive official endorsement. Ongoing monitoring of this butterfly’s three known subpopulations should be undertaken. In addition, searches should continue within the known extent of occurrence of this species in order to try and find more subpopulations.

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,
 author = {SANBI},
 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}
}
,@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}
}
,]
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