Chrysochloris visagiei Broom, 1950:238

Visagie's golden mole

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Chrysochloris asiatica visagiei (Broom, 1950:238) [Simonetta, 1968:31]

May be an aberrant specimen of Chrysochloris asiatica (Meester, 1974).

Conservation Status

Missing

Last record: 1950 (Fisher & Blomberg, 2012; Lee et al., 2017)

IUCN RedList status: Data Deficient

Visagie's golden mole is only known from a single specimen collected at Gouna, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. At least two expeditions to the type locality have failed to uncover the species (Bronner, 2015), but it may actually be Gouna Forest near Knysna in the Eastern Cape Province (Bronner, 2015).

Distribution

Gouna, Northern Cape, South Africa

Anatomy & Morphology

Total length 10.5cm (Stuart & Stuart, 2015)

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Only known from the holotype.

Type locality: Gouna, Northern Cape Province, South Africa

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Broom, R. (1950). Some further advances in our knowledge of the Cape golden moles. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 21: 234-241.

Other references:

Avery, D. M. and Avery, G. (2011). Micromammals in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, past and present. African Natural History 7(1): 9-39.

Bronner, G. N. (2013). Chrysochloris visagiei, pp. 246. In: Kingdon, J., Happold, D., Butynski, T., Hoffmann, M., Happold, M. and Kalina, J. (eds.). Mammals of Africa, Volume I: Introductory Chapters and Afrotheria, pp. 246. Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

Bronner, G. (2015). Chrysochloris visagiei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T4812A21287855. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T4812A21287855.en . Downloaded on 05 October 2015.

Bronner, G. N. and Jenkins, P. D. (2005). Order Afrosoricida, pp. 70-81. In: Wilson, D. E. and Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Fisher, Diana O. and Blomberg, Simon P. (2012). Inferring Extinction of Mammals from Sighting Records, Threats, and Biological Traits. Conservation Biology 26(1): 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01797.x

Kennerley, R.J., Lacher, T.E. Jr., Mason, V., McCay, S., Roach, N., Stephenson, P.J., Superina, M. and Young, R.P. (2018). Conservation priorities and actions for the Orders Cingulata, Pilosa, Afrosoricida, Macroscelidea, Eulipotyphla, Dermoptera and Scandentia, pp. 15-27. In: Wilson, D. E. and Mittermeier, R. A. (eds.). Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 8. Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions.

Lee, T. E., Fisher, D. O., Blomberg, S. P. and Wintle, B. A. (2017). Extinct or still out there? Disentangling influences on extinction and rediscovery helps to clarify the fate of species on the edge. Global Change Biology 23(2): 621-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13421

Meester, J. (1974). Family Chrysochloridae. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Meester, J. (1976). South African red data book–small mammals. S. Afr. Natl. Sci. Programmes Rept. 11: vi + 59 pp.

Nicoll, M. E. and Rathbun, G. B. (1990). African Insectivora and elephant-shrews: An action plan for their conservation. IUCN/SSC Insectivore, Tree-Shrew and Elephant-Shrew Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Siegfried, W. R. and Brown, C. A. (1992). The distribution and protection of mammals endemic to southern Africa. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 22(1): 11-16.

Simonetta, Alberto M. (1968). A new golden mole from Somalia with an appendix on the taxonomy of the family Chrysochloridae (Mammalia, Insectivora). Monitore zoologici Italiano 2(Supplement): 27-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/03749444.1968.10736749

Skinner, John Dawson and Chimimba, Christian T. (2005). The Mammals of the Southern African Sub-region, 3rd ed. Cape Town, South Africa: Cambridge University Press. [15 November]

Stephenson, P. J. (2017). Small mammal monitoring: why we need more data on the Afrotheria. Afrotherian Conservation 13: 34-42.

Stuart, Chris T. and Stuart, Mathilde. (2015). Stuarts' Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa: Including Angola, Zambia & Malawi. Penguin Random House South Africa. [27 March]

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/6325/chrysochloris-visagiei-visagies-golden-mole

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