Red List of South African Species

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Near Threatened (NT)
Assessors: Aaron Bauer Werner Conradie Johan Marais
Contributors: Josh Weeber
Facilitators: Graham Alexander Krystal A Tolley
Reviewers: John Measey Alex Rebelo Nicolas Telford

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

The majority of this species small range (extent of occurrence of ca 8,000 km2) is in a heavily impacted area and it occurs in few protected areas. However, there is no evidence to suggest there are population declines at present. Given that there has been an overall loss of habitat extent and quality across the majority of the range, the species is regarded as Near Threatened (it almost qualifies for a threatened listing under criterion B1ab(iii)).

Distribution

Endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa, distributed from Darling in the south to Lamberts Bay and Clanwilliam in the north (Bates et al. 2014).

Population trend

Trend

It is not possible to infer whether the heavy habitat modification has impacted this species. Most of its habitat is transformed.

Threats

The majority of the distribution is fragmented and degraded due to urbanization.

Uses and trade

Not known to be utilized or traded in any way.

Conservation

Further work to determine the status of the Elands Bay population is needed. The severity of the threats on this species needs to be better understood, particularly in terms of whether it can persist in a heavily modified landscape, and if there is connectivity between the remaining intact habitat patches.

References 

[@electronic{181632,
 address = {www.iucnredlist.org},
 author = {IUCN},
 title = {The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018-2},
 year = {2018}
}
,@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}
}
,@article{19954,
 author = {Bauer, A.M., Whiting, A.S. and Sadlier, R.A.},
 journal = {Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences},
 number = {13},
 pages = {231--237},
 title = {A new species of <i>Scelotes</i> from near Cape Town, Western Cape Province, South Africa},
 volume = {54},
 year = {2003}
}
,@article{19954,
 author = {Heideman, N.J., Mulcahy, D.G., Sites, J.W., Hendricks, M.G. and Daniels, S.R. },
 journal = {Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution},
 pages = {823--833},
 title = {Cryptic diversity and morphological convergence in threatened species of fossorial skinks in the genus <i>Scelotes</i> (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Western Cape Coast of South Africa: Implications for species boundaries, digit reduction and conservation},
 volume = {61},
 year = {2011}
}
,]
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