Taxonomy

Kingdom

ANIMALIA

Phylum

CHORDATA

Class

MAMMALIA

Order

AFROSORICIDA

Family

CHRYSOCHLORIDAE

Common Name/s

JULIANA'S GOLDEN MOLE (E)

Species Authority

(Meester, 1972)

Infra-specific Taxa Assessed

Synonym/s

     Amblysomus julianae Meester, 1972

Taxonomic Notes

Consistent colour, dental and DNA differences exist between the three known populations from the geographical extremes of this species' range suggest that it may include two taxa; however, more specimens are needed before the status of these forms will become clear (Bronner 1990, 1995). Assigned to the genus Neamblysomus by Bronner (1995).

Assessment Information

Red List Category & Criteria

EN B2ab(iii)    ver 3.1 (2001)

Year Assessed

2006

Assessor/s

Bronner, G. (Afrotheria Specialist Group)

Evaluator/s

Rathbun, G. (Afrotheria Red List Authority) & Sechrest, W. (Global Mammal Assessment)

Justification

Known from five localities and three subpopulations. The topotypical subpopulation (Pretoria) is treated separately and afforded CR status. While the other two subpopulations occur within protected areas, there are no intermediate distribution records suggesting gene flow between them, and only a small part of the range of the range of Nylsvley subpopulation occurs within a protected area, the rest being in adjoining farmlands that are subject to habitat alteration and potential degradation.

History

Distribution

Country Names

South Africa

Detailed Documentation

Range

Tshwane (Pretoria) (Gauteng), Nylstroom (Limpopo Prov.) and Kruger Nat. Park (Mpumalanga, South Africa). Recorded from three isolated populations: The Willows (type locality), Shere and Tierpoort in Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng (here treated as a distinct subpopulation); Nylsvley Provincial Nature Reserve in Limpopo Province; and Numbi Gate, Pretoriuskop and Matjulwana districts of Kruger National Park, in the lowveld of Mpumalanga. Skulls from owl pellets at Witkoppen Cave, ca. 25km east of Nyslvley Nature Reserve, represent this species, suggesting that it may occur more widely throughout the sandy Springbok Flats. A specimen that may be this species was recently (March 2003) caught at Malelane in Mpumalanga, but genetic data are required to confirm this (analyses currently underway). If this specimen is indeed a N. julianae, this species range in the lowveld may also be more extensive than previously thought.

Population

Locally common, with 2–3 individuals/ha in prime habitat. However, dispersion is patchy and clumped owing to specialized habitat requirements. No data on population size; extrapolation from area of occupancy based on quarter degree squares (3,720 km²) will overestimate population size given their clumped dispersion.

Habitat and Ecology

Confined to sandy soils, often pockets of weathered sandstone associated with rocky ridges, in the Savanna biome, and marginally into the Grassland biome in the Pretoria district. The population on Nyl floodplain occurs in Clay Thorn Bushveld and the population at Pretoria in Rocky Highveld Grassland, whereas in the Kruger National Park this species occurs in Sour Lowveld Bushveld. Common in well-irrigated gardens. Absent from grasslands on the heavier soils of the Mpumalanga escarpment where the larger-sized A. septentrionalis and A. robustus instead occur.

Threats

In the former Transvaal Province, this species was given the highest regional priority score for mammals (Freitag and van Jaarsveld 1997). The type population on Bronberg ridge outside Tshwane (Pretoria) is being severely impacted by intensive urbanization and a mining operation, and is treated as a distinct subpopulation (CR status). While the other two subpopulations occur within protected areas, there are no intermediate distribution records suggesting gene flow between them, and the Nylsvley subpopulation also occurs in farmlands (adjoining the Nylsvley Nature Reserve) that are subject to habitat alteration and potential degradation, though the impact thereof on this subpopulation is unknown.

Conservation Measures

The Pretoria subpopulation, treated here as a distinct subpopulation, is threatened by habitat degradation and subpopulation fragmentation associated with urbanization and mining activities. The other two known populations are protected to some degree by the Kruger National Park and Nylsvley Nature Reserve.

Summary Documentation

System

Terrestrial

Major Habitat/s
(terms)

Major Threat/s
(terms)

Population Trend
(terms)

Conservation Action/s
(terms)

Data Sources

Data Sources

Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Bronner, G.N. 1990. New distribution records for four mammal species, with notes on their taxonomy and ecology. Koedoe 33: 1–7.

Bronner, G.N. 1995. Systematic revision of the golden mole genera Amblysomus, Chlorotalpa and Calcochloris (Insectivora: Chrysochloromorpha; Chrysochloridae). Ph.D. thesis, University of Natal (Durban), South Africa.

Freitag S. and Van Jaarsveld, A.S. 1997. Relative occupancy, endemism, taxonomic distinctiveness and vulnerability: prioritising regional conservation actions. Biodiversity and Conservation 6: 211–232.

Groombridge, B. (ed.) 1994. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1986. 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1988. 1988 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Nowak, R.M. (ed.) 1999. Walkers Mammals of the World. Sixth edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.

Pfab, M. 2002. The quartzite ridges of Gauteng. Veld & Flora 2002(June issue): 56–59.

Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds). 1993. Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London.