Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)
Assessors: Michael Bates Le Fras Mouton
Facilitators: Graham Alexander Krystal Tolley Neil Cox
Reviewers: Graham Alexander Adriaan Jordaan Paula Strauss Jody Taft Josh Weeber

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

Widespread and common with no major threats, hence this species is listed as Least Concern.

Distribution

Endemic to the southern parts of South Africa from the Cederberg Mountains and Saldanha in the west to the southeastern Free State, southwestern Lesotho  and southern KwaZulu-Natal (De Waal 1978, Bates 2007, Bates et al. 2014). Also found on St Croix Island off the coast of Port Elizabeth (as Cordylus tasmani, Branch 1998).

Population trend

Trend

The population is inferred to be stable. An estimate of the number of existing subpopulations is not possible.

Threats

There are no major threats to this species.

Uses and trade

This species is listed in CITES Appendix II and is in the pet trade. It was most recently recorded as exported from South Africa for pet trade in the 1990s and in small numbers  (UNEP-WCMC 2017). Significant numbers from the wild (in the thousands) of this species were reported as exported from Tanzania to the USA, Europe and Japan in the 1990s but there are no such recent exports. These exports are unusual because Tanzania is not within this species distribution. The records could represent exports of a Cordylus species (e.g. C. tropidosternum or C. beraduccii) from Tanzania exported under the name Cordylus cordylus.

Conservation

This species is listed in CITES Appendix II; it occurs in many protected areas. No conservation actions are recommended; it occurs in many protected areas across its wide range.

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}
}
,@book{2817,
 address = {Cape Town},
 author = {Branch, W.R.},
 publisher = {Struik Publishers},
 title = {Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Second Edition},
 year = {1998}
}
,@electronic{3009,
 address = {https://trade.cites.org/},
 author = {UNEP-WCMC},
 title = {CITES Trade Database},
 year = {2017}
}
,@article{5333,
 author = {Stanley, E.L., Bauer, A.M., Jackson, T.R., Branch, W.R. and Mouton, P. le F.N. },
 journal = {Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution},
 pages = {53--70},
 title = {Between a rock and a hard polytomy: Rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizards (Squamata: Cordylidae)},
 volume = {58},
 year = {2011}
}
,@article{5336,
 author = {Bourquin, O.},
 journal = {Durban Museum Novitates},
 pages = {57--103},
 title = {Reptiles (Reptilia) in KwaZulu-Natal: 1 - diversity and distribution},
 volume = {29},
 year = {2004}
}
,@article{110159331,
 author = {Bates, M.F.},
 journal = {Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum, Bloemfontein},
 pages = {185--195},
 title = {First records of the Cape Girdled Lizard, <i>Cordylus cordylus</i> (Linnaeus, 1758), in Lesotho},
 volume = {23},
 year = {2007}
}
,]
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