Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

This species has a very large distribution in South Africa, with an extent of occurrence of nearly 940,000 km2. Although much of the range has been transformed by agriculture and urbanization, substantial portions of its range still persist. Most of the habitat transformation occurred prior to 1990 with relatively little additional transformation since that time. The species is therefore considered Least Concern.

Distribution

This species has a large range across southern Africa, including South Africa, Eswatini (Swaziland), Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In South Africa, it is found in the  provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape, with an isolated subpopulation in Highveld grassland near Pretoria, Gauteng (Jacobsen 1989, Branch 1998, Bates et al. 2014). The subspecies Chamaesaura anguina anguina represents the South African and Eswatini (Swaziland) portion of the distribution (Bates et al. 2014).

Decline

Moderate

Population trend

Trend

The species is widespread and fairly common. It is therefore inferred to be stable at present, although it most likely declined in the past due to habitat transformation.

Threats

There are substantial portions of this species range that were  transformed for agriculture and urbanization in the past. As much as 17% of the Fynbos Biome and 35% of the Grassland Biome - the main areas where this species occurs - were transformed or degraded (Le Roux 2002), however, most of this transformation occurred before 1990 with relatively little transformation over the last 25 years (Geo Terra Image 2015, 2016).

Uses and trade

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

Conservation

No conservation actions are recommended. Despite the habitat transformation across its range, the species is considered well protected in South Africa, occurring in more than 200 protected areas. However, investigation into the taxonomic status of the two subspecies (C. anguina anguina and C. anguina oligopholis) should be carried out.

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