Rationale
(Changed due to Same category and criteria)
A taxon endemic to a large area in South Africa (EOO 93 799 km<sup>2</sup>). However, it occupies a very small portion of this area. The taxon is a rare habitat specialist with relatively few known locations, several of which are under some degree of threat. The taxon thus qualifies globally under the IUCN criteria as Least Concern and is nationally classified as Rare (Habitat Specialist).
Distribution
Endemic to the Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and Eastern Cape provinces in South Africa, from Kokstad in the south to Komatipoort in the north-east and Potchefstroom in the west.
Decline
Much of the habitat containing the Highveld populations of Lepidochrysops procera is under pressure from residential development and overgrazing by cattle.
The southern Gauteng/Highveld habitat of this species is threatened by residential developments and overgrazing by cattle. Elsewhere the taxon appears to thrive in grassland subjected to annual winter fires. Fire suppression, or fires during the butterfly’s flight period of late September/October may be significant threats. The influence of drought is unknown, but observations from the southern Gauteng localities during the drought of the last three years appear to indicate that numbers have declined dramatically.
Conservation
No conservation actions are recommended at this stage. The taxonomy of the disjunct populations should be investigated. The results of such a study may revise the situation.
[@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{882,
address = {Cape Town, South Africa},
author = {Woodhall, S.E.},
publisher = {Struik},
title = {Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa.},
year = {2005}
}
,@book{882,
address = {Cape Town},
author = {Pringle, E.L., Henning, G.A. & Ball, J.B. (eds)},
publisher = {Struik-Winchester},
title = {Pennington's Butterflies of southern Africa.},
year = {1994}
}
,@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}
}
,]
