Lepidochrysops ketsi leucomacula

Armstrong, Adrian & Ehlers Smith, Yvette, 2024, Endangered White-spotted Ketsi Blue butterfly, Lepidochrysops ketsi leucomacula, in KwaZulu-Natal, Bothalia (a 3) 54 (1), pp. 1-8 : 6-7

Lepidochrysops ketsi leucomacula

The conservation status of L. k. leucomacula appears to be deteriorating. One of the reasons appears to be inappropriate management of the butterfly species’ habitat in the two protected areas in which the butterfly is known to occur in KwaZulu-Natal. No L. k. leucomacula were observed on the two surveillance visits to the Solomon Gijima Dindikazi Nature Reserve. The absence of these endangered butterflies was unexpect- ed because the site is only about 25 km in a straight line from the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve site and the butterfly had been recorded there previously, including on 2 March 2017 by the first author. In fact, the Solomon Gijima Dindikazi Nature Reserve was proclaimed in 2021 to protect two threatened lycaenid butterflies, L. k. leucomacula and the Vulnerable Whitish Amakosa Rocksitter , Durbania amakosa albescens Quickelberge, 1981 ( Mecenero et al. 2020). Various possibilities exist for why we saw no White-spotted Ketsi Blues. One reason could be that livestock have been allowed to graze the grassland and wetland areas ( Figure 6 ). Livestock grazing and trampling of the colony sites are detrimental to the survival of the ant-associated Karkloof Blue butterfly, Orachrysops ariadne (Butler, 1898) ( Armstrong & Louw 2013) and this may be the case also for the myrmecophilous L. k. leucomacula. Livestock grazing of the primary grassland and wetlands in the small Solomon Gijima Dindikazi Nature Reserve is largely incompatible with the values for which the reserve was proclaimed.

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The area of natural grassland left along the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal is so small that grazing land is not easy to find, and as a result protected areas may be grazed by livestock. The Solomon Gijima Dindikazi Nature Reserve needs to be signposted, and preferably fenced, and the management plan finalised and implemented to prevent the local extinction of L. k. leucomacula there. Appropriate protection and management of the butterfly’s habitat in protected areas are essential for the continued long-term survival of L. k. leucomacula in KwaZulu-Natal .

Figures

Figure 6. Livestock grazing in the Solomon Gijima Dindikazi Nature Reserve on 9 February 2022.