Neamblysomus gunningi

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	AFROSORICIDA	CHRYSOCHLORIDAE

Scientific Name:

Neamblysomus gunningi

Species Authority:

(Broom, 1908)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Gunning's Golden Mole

Synonym/s:

Amblysomus gunningi (Broom, 1908)

Taxonomic Notes:

Included in Amblysomus by Simonetta (1968), Meester (1974), Petter (1981) and Meester et al. (1986). Bronner (1995) elevated it to the genus Neamblysomus.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Endangered B1ab(iii,iv) ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2008

Assessor/s:

Bronner, G.

Reviewer/s:

Rathbun, G. (Afrotheria Red List Authority) & Hoffmann, M. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)

Justification:
Known from only a few localities in an area less than 5,000 km². While some of the forests in which it occurs are under state control, protection measures on the ground are dubious and do not target management of this species. The possibility of privatization of some state forests brings the continued protection of habitat in doubt.

History:

2006	–	Endangered (IUCN 2006)
1996	–	Vulnerable (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)
1994	–	Indeterminate (Groombridge 1994)
1990	–	Indeterminate (IUCN 1990)
1988	–	Insufficiently Known (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Woodbush Forest and New Agatha Forest Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Recorded only from the far northern Drakensberg escarpment, between Haenertsburg, New Agatha and Tzaneen (South Africa).
Countries:	Native: South Africa
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Locally common; most numerous in moist soils near watercourses and ponds.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Afromontane forest and adjacent grasslands in Northeastern Mountain Grassland of Limpopo Province (Savanna biome). Also occurs in cultivated lands and young pine plantations, where it coexists with Common Molerats (Cryptomys hottentotus). Little is known about the ecology of this species.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The distribution of populations is highly-localized and the preferred habitats of the species are threatened by commercial forestry operations. In the former Transvaal Province, this species was given the highest regional priority score for mammals (Freitag and van Jaarsveld 1997).

Major Threat(s):

The distribution of populations is highly-localized and the preferred habitats of the species are threatened by commercial forestry operations. In the former Transvaal Province, this species was given the highest regional priority score for mammals (Freitag and van Jaarsveld 1997).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Protected in the De Hoek, New Agatha and Woodbush Forest Reserves. Research needed to document the natural history of this species.

Conservation Actions:

Protected in the De Hoek, New Agatha and Woodbush Forest Reserves. Research needed to document the natural history of this species.

Citation:	Bronner, G. 2008. Neamblysomus gunningi. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2012.
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