Red List of South African Species

Alternatively, Explore species
| National Red List categories | Partners |
Least Concern (LC)
Assessors: Peter Taylor Rod Baxter Ara Monadjem
Contributors: Margaret Avery Duncan MacFadyen Nico Avenant Beryl Wilson Guy Palmer
Reviewers: Matthew Child

Rationale

This species is widely distributed within the assessment region and occurs in many protected areas, including Kruger National Park, and can be locally common in some areas (for example, Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal Province). Although it occurs in multiple habitat types across its range, it has not been recorded from agricultural or modified habitats. Thus it relies on intact ecosystems and ongoing habitat loss and degradation of grasslands, woodlands and wetlands is a threat to this species. The loss of moist grasslands through climate change is an emerging threat that should be monitored closely as it may push this species into a threatened category. Presently, we list as Least Concern as there is no evidence for net decline. Further surveys and research should focus on vetting existing museum records as many have been misidentified as C. cyanea and vice versa, leading to inaccuracies in the distribution map. Key interventions include protected area expansion of moist grassland habitats, as well as incentivising landowners to sustain natural vegetation around wetlands and keep livestock or wildlife at ecological carrying capacity.

Regional population effects: No significant rescue effects are possible as, although habitats are presumably connected across regions in some areas, this species is too small to disperse over long distances.

Distribution

This southern African species is present in Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland, and might be present in parts of Lesotho, Botswana, southern Malawi, Zambia and Angola, but requires confirmation from new field surveys. Within the assessment region, they are widely distributed in Limpopo (Rautenbach 1982), Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, with a scattered, but wide, distribution in KwaZulu-Natal Province as far south as Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve (Skinner and Chimimba 2005). This species was once known in Swaziland from just two specimens (Monadjem 1998), but further field studies have confirmed a wider distribution there (e.g., Avenant and Kuyler 2002). This species is very similar, and almost indistinguishable (Taylor and Contrafatto 1996), from C. cyanea but is more restricted in distribution. Existing museum records need to be exhaustively vetted as there may be errors in both species’ distribution maps.

Population trend

Trend

This species can be common to abundant in suitable habitats; for example, in Maputaland, northern KwaZulu-Natal Province (P. Taylor unpubl. data). However, in Mkhuze Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal Province, it was the least abundant shrew sampled where C. fuscomurina and C. hirta, represented 73% of all captures (Delcros et al. 2014). Similarly, at Phinda Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal Province, it was only more abundant than S. infinitesimus, where again the most abundant species were C. fuscomurina and C. hirta (Rautenbach et al. 2014).

Threats

The main threat to shrews is the loss or degradation of moist, productive areas such as wetlands and rank grasslands within suitable habitat. The two main drivers behind this are abstraction of surface water and draining of wetlands through industrial and residential expansion, and overgrazing of moist grasslands, which leads to the loss of ground cover (de-structures habitat) and decreases small mammal diversity and abundance (Bowland and Perrin 1989, 1993). Suppression of natural ecosystem processes, such as fire, can also lead to habitat degradation through bush encroachment or loss of plant diversity through alien invasives, and is suspected to be increasing with human settlement expansion. There are also clear overlaps and synergistic effects between these threats. We infer a continuing population decline based on loss of natural habitat.

Uses and trade

There is no known subsistence or commercial use of this species.

Conservation

This species is found in several protected areas across its range, including Kruger National Park. The main interventions for this species are protecting and restoring suitable habitat, such as moist grassland and fynbos patches. Biodiversity stewardship schemes should be promoted to conserve such patches. Protecting these habitats may create dispersal corridors between patches that will enable adaptation to climate change. At the local scale, landowners and managers should be educated, encouraged and incentivised to conserve the habitats on which shrews and small mammals depend. Retaining ground cover is the most important management tool to increase small mammal diversity and abundance. This can be achieved through lowering grazing pressure (Bowland and Perrin 1989), or by maintaining a buffer strip of natural vegetation around wetlands (Driver et al. 2012). Small mammal diversity and abundance is also higher in more complex or heterogeneous landscapes, where periodic burning is an important tool to achieve this (Bowland and Perrin 1993). Removing alien vegetation from watersheds, watercourses and wetlands is also an important intervention to improve flow and water quality, and thus habitat quality, for shrews. Education and awareness campaigns should be employed to teach landowners and local communities about the importance of conserving wetlands and moist grasslands.

Recommendations for land managers and practitioners:
  • Landowners and communities should be incentivised to stock livestock or wildlife at ecological carrying capacity and to maintain a buffer of natural vegetation around wetlands.
  • Enforce regulations on developments that potentially impact on the habitat integrity of grasslands and wetlands.
Research priorities:
  • Additional field surveys are needed to clarify and confirm the distribution of this species.
  • The effects of climate change on its distribution and abundance should be specifically modelled.
  • Museum records must be vetted to refine the distribution map.
Encouraged citizen actions:
  • Citizens are requested to submit any shrews killed by cats or drowned in pools to a museum or a provincial conservation authority for identification, thereby enhancing our knowledge of shrew distribution (carcasses can be placed in a ziplock bag and frozen with the locality recorded).

References 

[@book{275,
 address = {Cambridge},
 author = {Skinner, J.D. and Chimimba, C.T.},
 publisher = {Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom},
 title = {The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion},
 year = {2005}
}
,@book{1087,
 address = {Pretoria, South Africa},
 author = {Meester, J.A.J., Rautenbach, I.L., Dippenaar, N.J. and Baker, C.M.},
 publisher = {Transvaal Museum },
 title = {Classification of Southern African Mammals. Monograph number 5.},
 year = {1986}
}
,@techreport{3326,
 address = {Pretoria},
 author = {GeoTerraImage},
 title = {Quantifying settlement and built-up land use change in South Africa},
 year = {2015}
}
,@techreport{5228,
 address = {Pretoria, South Africa},
 author = {Driver, A., Sink, K.J., Nel, J.N., Holness, S., Van Niekerk, L., Daniels, F., Jonas, Z., Majiedt, P.A., Harris, L. and Maze, K.},
 institution = {South African National Biodiversity Institute and Department of Environmental Affairs},
 title = {National Biodiversity Assessment 2011: An assessment of South Africa’s biodiversity and ecosystems. Synthesis Report},
 year = {2012}
}
,@article{9077,
 author = {Jewitt, D., Goodman, P.S., Erasmus, B.F.N., O’Connor, T.G. and Witkowski, E.T.F.},
 journal = {South African Journal of Science },
 pages = {1--9},
 title = {Systematic land-cover change in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Implications for biodiversity},
 volume = {111},
 year = {2015}
}
,@article{9488,
 author = {Taylor, P.J., Richardson, E.J., Meester, J. and Wingate, L.},
 journal = {Durban Museum Novitates},
 pages = {59--66},
 title = {New distribution records for six small mammal species in Natal, with notes on their taxonomy and ecology},
 volume = {19},
 year = {1994}
}
,@article{14114,
 author = {Bowland, A.E. and Perrin, M.R.},
 journal = {Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde},
 pages = {251–260},
 title = {The effect of overgrazing on the small mammals in Umfolozi Game Reserve.},
 volume = {54},
 year = {1989}
}
,@article{14114,
 author = {Bowland, J.M. and Perrin, M.E.},
 journal = {South African Journal of Wildlife Research},
 pages = {39–43},
 title = {Wetlands as reservoirs of small-mammal populations in the Natal Drakensberg},
 volume = {23},
 year = {1993}
}
,@article{14262,
 author = {Avery, D.M., Avery, G. and Roberts, A.},
 journal = {African Zoology},
 pages = {131--140},
 title = {A contribution from barn owl pellets to known micromammalian distributions in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa},
 volume = {37},
 year = {2002}
}
,@article{15655,
 author = {Taylor, P.J., Nengovhela, A., Linden, J. and Baxter, R.M.},
 journal = {Mammalia},
 pages = {359–375},
 title = {Past, present, and future distribution of Afromontane rodents (Muridae: <i>Otomys</i>) reflect climate-change predicted biome changes},
 volume = {80},
 year = {2016}
}
,@book{21693,
 address = {London, UK},
 author = {Ellerman, J.R., Morrison-Scott, T.C.S. and Hayman, R.W.},
 publisher = {Trustees of the British Museum (Nat. Hist.)},
 title = {Southern African Mammals 1758-1951: A reclassification},
 year = {1953}
}
,@book{30209,
 address = {Mbabane, Swaziland.},
 author = {Monadjem A},
 publisher = {Conservation Trust of Swaziland and Big Games Parks},
 title = {The mammals of Swaziland},
 year = {1998}
}
,@inbook{41382,
 address = {Washington, D. C., USA},
 author = {},
 booktitle = {Order Insectivora},
 editor = {Heim de Balsac, H. and Meester, J.},
 pages = {1--29},
 publisher = {Smithsonian Institution Press},
 title = {The Mammals of Africa: An Identification Manual},
 year = {1977}
}
,@article{111935780,
 author = {Rautenbach, I. L.},
 journal = {Ecoplan monograph, N.S. Supplemento},
 pages = {111--211},
 title = {Mammals of the Transvaal},
 volume = {1},
 year = {1982}
}
,@article{569,
 author = {Avenant NL, Kuyler P.},
 journal = {South African Journal of Wildlife Research},
 pages = {101--108},
 title = {Small mammal diversity in the Maguga Dam inundation area, Swaziland},
 volume = {32},
 year = {2002}
}
,@article{5576,
 author = {Delcros, G., Taylor, P.J., and Schoeman, M.C.},
 journal = {Mammalia},
 number = {1},
 pages = {1--14},
 title = {Ecological correlates of small mammal assemblage structure at different spatial scales in the savannah biome of South Africa},
 volume = {79},
 year = {2015}
}
,@article{5576,
 author = {Rautenbach A, Dickerson T, Schoeman MC.},
 journal = {African Journal of Ecology},
 pages = {30--40},
 title = {Diversity of rodent and shrew assemblages in different vegetation types of the savannah biome in South Africa: no evidence for nested subsets or competition},
 volume = {52},
 year = {2014}
}
,@article{40625,
 author = {Taylor PJ, Contrafatto G.},
 journal = {Mammalia},
 pages = {753--766},
 title = {Mandible shape and size in three species of small musk shrews (<i>Crocidura</i> Wagler, 1832) from southern Africa},
 volume = {60},
 year = {1996}
}
,]
Send feedback about this assessment to SANBI

Lead agencies, Partners and Funders

See the partners page