1.0

The information consolidated within the project will build up a comprehensive identification guide, as well as mapping the ranges of each species.

About SABCA.

The interest in butterflies from citizen scientists, researchers and conservation agencies, linked to the ecological and economic importance of and the threats to butterfly diversity, and the appropriateness of butterflies for monitoring programs, led to the development and implementation of the Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment (SABCA) project for South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. The objectives of SABCA were to:

1. Compile a comprehensive and integrated database of existing distribution records.

2. Conduct a gap analysis using the data compiled to determine priority geographic regions and taxa for field surveys.

3. Survey butterflies in South Africa to collect new distribution records, especially for priority areas and taxa.

4. Raise public awareness of butterflies and their conservation by encouraging participation in the project.

5. Map the distributions of butterfly species in the atlas region.

6. Describe local species distributions in relation to habitat.

7. Assess the conservation status of each species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria.

8. Assess threats to butterflies, including identification of priority threats and threatened areas.

9. Build capacity in butterfly observation, identification and databasing within institutions, especially nature conservation agencies.

10. Produce an updated Conservation Assessment for all species to inform conservation planning, decision-making and policy-development for butterflies.

Conservation assessments for species require comprehensive and accurate data on where and when species have been recorded. This type of data for the atlas region (South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland) was sourced from three main activities, namely the digitization of existing museum and private collections, field surveys by LepSoc members prioritized by gap areas in the atlas region and the online virtual museum for the submission of photographic records from members of the public. Other data included were those from academic research studies, field sightings, the literature and the first South African Butterfly Census Weekend. Data sources are presented in Table 2.1. The bulk of the data came from museums and other collection institutions (about 160 000 records) and LepSoc (about 120 000 records). There are about 78 000 duplicate records but these will not affect the distribution maps, which reflect only the presence of taxa.

Data from existing collections were sourced from 15 institutions as well as LepSoc and two non-LepSoc individuals. Institutions included museums, nature conservation agencies, research and academic institutions. LepSoc contributed private collection data from 31 members. SABCA data technicians were mainly responsible for digitizing existing butterfly collections in museum and private collections.

A cut-off date of 20 July 2010 was set for records submitted to SABCA (via the Virtual Museum or other sources), so that the conservation assessments could be completed. The project culminated with the publication of the book: "Mecenero, S., J.B. Ball, D.A. Edge, M.L. Hamer, G.A. Hening, M. Krüger, E.L. Pringle, R.F. Terblanche & M.C. Williams (eds). 2013. Conservation assessment of butterflies of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland: Red List and atlas. Saftronics (Pty) Ltd., Johannesburg and Animal Demography Unit, Cape Town."

LepiMAP data sources and number of records in brackets: (as of 2019-07-18):

ADU-UCT (Virtual Museum) (237,419);

African Butterfly Research Institute (6,271);

Albany Museum (8,149);

Biosystematics Division, ARC (Plant Protection Research Institute) (1,910);

National Museum (1,585);

Durban Natural Science Museum (29,594);

East London Museum (969);

Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University (44);

Lepidopterists Society of Africa (121,578);

Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism (413);

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (32,659);

Natural History Museum, London (14,137);

Natal Museum (3,080);

Private (Craig Peter) (25);

Iziko South African Museum (7,279);

Skukuza Biological Reference Collection, SANParks (2,268);

Thomas Desloges (private collection) (1,039);

Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (formerly Transvaal Museum) (55,387);

University of KwaZulu-Natal (503);

University of Stellenbosch (972).

All records are shareable.

SANS 1878

FGDC-STD-001-1998