Summary of iSpot discussions.

(Just for the record)
The current status and full listing and updates can be found here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/extinct-in-the-wild/journal/14609-extinct-plant-species-in-south-africa

EXTINCT SPECIES:

There are many extinct species. This is to do tribute to them.

Those that would never had made it onto iSpot except by some quirk of fate.

This may include species officially declared extinct in the past, but since rediscovered. Or that vanished for over the 50 year limit as per the IUCN definition of extinct. And those that are Extinct in the Wild because their last remaining home has been destroyed, but which still survive in cultivation - as which may have active restoration programmes. Also included are species presumed extinct (Critically Endangered: Presumed Extinct) because all known populations are gone and it may be totally wiped out.
It may even include "false species" in futile attempts to reconstruct Extinct species (or subspecies).
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Tag: Extinct. Extent: Global.
Also tags: Extinct in the Wild; Historically Extinct; Presumed Extinct.

728 READS

Extinct Plant species in South Africa
9 September 2015 - 10:56AM Tony Rebelo
Extinct Plant species in South Africa - source: http://redlist.sanbi.org/
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Extinct (EX):
Psoralea cataracta (1790s)
Leucadendron grandiflorum (1806)
Thamnea depressa (1815)
Liparia graminifolia (1829)
Disa forcipata (1870)
Barleria natalensis (1890)
Xysmalobium baurii (1890)
Brachystelma schoenlandianum (1893)
Erica foliacea subsp. fulgens (1895)
Vernonella africana (1895)
Cephalophyllum parvulum (1896)
Cyclopia filiformis (1897)
Nemesia micrantha (1897)
Aspalathus variegata (1898)
Osteospermum hirsutum (~1900)
Polhillia ignota (1900s)
Willdenowia affinis (1918)
Eugenia pusilla (1920)
Lampranthus vanzijliae (1921)
Macledium pretoriense (1925)
Psoralea gueinzii (1927)
Leucadendron spirale (1933)
Aspalathus complicata (1934)
Erica alexandri subsp. acockii (1940)
Isolepis bulbifera (1950)
Aspalathus cordicarpa (1950s)
Conophytum semivestitum (pre 1996)
Crassula subulata var. hispida (pre 1996)
Erica pyramidalis var. pyramidalis (pre 1996)
Macrostylis villosa subsp. minor (2002)
Helichrysum outeniquense (2006)
Ceropegia antennifera (known only from the type)
Ceropegia bowkeri (known only from the type)
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Extinct in the Wild (EW) - only known from cultivation:
Erica verticillata (1908)
Encephalartos woodii (1916)
Erica turgida (1980s)
Encephalartos brevifoliolatus (1996)
Encephalartos nubimontanus (2004)
Erica bolusiae var. cyathiformis (2006)
Pleiospilos simulans (2007)
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Presumed Extinct (CR PE) - no known populations surviving:
Helictotrichon quinquesetum (1800s)
Lobelia zwartkopensis (1800s)
Aspalathus ferox (1850s)
Euryops zeyheri (1850s)
Adenia natalensis (1865)
Athanasia imbricata (1865)
Riocreuxia woodii (1879)
Kniphofia crassifolia (1880)
Cyclopia laxiflora (1890s)
Senecio hirtifolius (1895)
Albuca prolifera (1898)
Erica kraussiana (1900s)
Ixia ecklonii (1900s)
Merremia malvaefolia (1900s)
Pachycarpus rostratus (1900s)
Phylica schlechteri (1900s)
Lebeckia zeyheri (1900s)
Marasmodes macrocephala (1907)
Alepidea multisecta (1910)
Albuca nana (1912)
Oxalis marlothii (1920)
Manulea ramulosa (1926)
Lachenalia martleyi (1929)
Riocreuxia flanaganii var. alexandrina (1930)
Oxalis pseudo-hirta (1930)
Leobordea magnifica (1930s)
Lotononis dichiloides (1930s)
Disa newdigateae (1931)
Globulariopsis pumila (1935)
Oxalis involuta (1935)
Oxalis perineson (1935)
Oxalis fragilis (1936)
Agathosma pallens (1940)
Agathosma propinqua (1940)
Polycarena silenoides Cape Granite Flax (1940s) - rediscovered August 2015
Tetraria paludosa (1945)
Lobelia barkerae (1947)
Lotononis racemiflora (1948)
Erepsia promontorii (1950)
Babiana foliosa (1951)
Euryops rosulatus (1960)
Marasmodes reflexa (1964)
Selago polycephala (1967)
Tritonia flabellifolia var. thomasiae (1968)
Pterygodium connivens (1970s)
Aspalathus amoena Bree Capegorse (1970s) - rediscovered May 2013
Ornithogalum hallii (1976)
Muraltia satureioides var. salteri (1980s)
Moraea minima (1981)
Agathosma involucrata (1984)
Leobordea lanata (1986)
Hesperantha saldanhae (1990s)
Amphithalea minima (2000s)
Oxalis variifolia (2000s)
Turraea streyi (2000s - EW)
Oxalis hygrophila (2001)
Orbea elegans (2004)
Ceropegia rudatisii (2005)
Conophytum herreanthus subsp. herreanthus (2006)
Ceropegia tomentosa (2007)
Jordaaniella anemoniflora (2011 - EW)
Tulbaghia cominsii (2011)
Xysmalobium winterbergense (?)
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Previously Extinct - But since discovered!
Drosanthemum insolitum L.Bolus (CR PE) - is now sunk into Drosanthemum boerhavii (Eckl. & Zeyh.) H.E.K.Hartmann
Haworthia venosa (Lam.) Haw. subsp. woolleyi (Poelln.) Halda (CR PE) - is now sunk into Haworthiopsis woolleyi (Poelln.) G.D.Rowley (CR)

Extinct Vertebrate species in South Africa
27 July 2015 - 7:29PM Tony Rebelo

Extinct Vertebrate species in South Africa.
Mammals:
Bluebuck - Hippotragus leucopheaus (1800 - Renosterveld)
Cape Lion - Panthera leo ?? (1858 - Cape Flora)
Cape Warthog - Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus (1870 - Cape Flora)
Quagga - Equus quagga quagga (1878 - Grassveld and Nama Karoo)
Birds:
None. A few locally extinct
(African Skimmer, Yellowbill Oxpecker (1910, reintroduced), Egyptian Vulture)
Reptiles:
Eastwoods Longtail Seps - Tetradactylus eastwoodiae (1928 - Zoutpansberg)
Gunters Dwarf Burrowing Skink - Scelotes guentheri - (1887 - Durban)
Amphibians:
None.
Fish:
None?

Extinct Invertebrate species in South Africa
28 July 2015 - 11:31PM Tony Rebelo

Extinct Invertebrate species in South Africa.
Beetles:
Table Mountain Hairy Crawling Waterbeetle - Algophilus lathridioides (? - Back Table) - unlikely to be extinct**
Table Mountain Water Scavenger Beetle - Allocotocerus mixtus (? - Back Table) - unlikely to be extinct**
Butterflies:
Bashee River Buff - Deloneura immaculata (1863 - EC)
Morants Blue - Lepidochrysops hypopolia (1879 - KZN, NW)
Dicksons Monkey Blue - Lepidochrysops methymna dicksonii (1964 - Tygerberg)
Velvetworms:
Lion Velvetworm - Peripatopsis leonine (? - Signal Hill)
**see below!!

Table Mountain Hairy Crawling Waterbeetle
28 July 2015 - 11:11PM Riaan Stals
Megad! Whomever devised this common name for Algophilus lathridioides (note spelling or else you will not find the information you needed!) has never seen a haliplid! Hairy they are not: http://www.ispotnature.org/species-dictionaries/sanbi/Haliplidae. The common name is besides the point; the wrong spelling of the species name is exactly part of the point.
I am very highly critical of the papers in which Algophilus lathridioides and hordes of other invertebrates (51 beetles in total) were declared extinct or variously endangered on the flimsiest of grounds, if reasons were given at all. Sorry, Mr Lead Author, but I think that 2011a is dangerous and the list it contains irresponsible. I could keep you busy on the phone for several hours explaining my numerous reasons.
But let's stick to Algophilus lathridioides, which should likely not be in a genus of its own, but a member of the cosmopolitan genus Haliplus. The jury was out and came back, but the reviser was sentimental and Algophilus was not synonymised (Vondel 2010).
The reason why nobody finds Algophilus lathridioides on Table Mountain is probably because it never occurred there. The type locality is "Kapland, Lange Vley" (1903), which I believe is at Simons Town, and I would guess on the Flats. Other known localities for this species are Ottery Vlei, Dabchick Vlei and Isoetes(?) Vlei, all on the Cape Flats. Yes, the species may perhaps now be extinct there, or it may not be. Just as if it would have occurred on Table Mountain, NOBODY KNOWS!!, and a committee without a coleopterist should not write a paper in which they list this (and other) species as either extinct or so fantastically rare and endangered in the complete absence of evidence.
When Gilbert Challet collected a long series of Algophilus lathridioides 2 km south of Velddrif on 24 August 2006 nobody got excited except me, and my reason was only that I considered that to be either a mislabelling or a significant (and strange) range extension. Only five years later did two papers appear that declared the little animal extinct. Or ... let me be fair ... almost-extinct (2011a: "Extinct?"; 2011b: "probably extinct"). But those papers misspelled the name, probably copying old Clive's earlier paper (Turner 2007a).
Much the same should be said for the other water beetle presently listed above (Allocotocerus mixtus ... http://www.ispotnature.org/species-dictionaries/sanbi/Allocotocerus ), except that it has not recently been collected. AND SO WHAT IF IT HAS NOT RECENTLY BEEN COLLECTED?? By dog, it is a beetle! It is small! It lives in water! It is possibly naturally scarce! On Table Mountain it is in the safest of care! There are only alarmist reasons to consider it "probably extinct" or "Extinct?". On these same grounds, unclear as they may be, it will take me an hour or two to generate a list of 5,000+ other South African beetles that should also be declared "probably extinct" or "Extinct?".
Please revise.
ex BEETLEDUDE

Nooo!
28 July 2015 - 11:21PM Riaan Stals
I didn't mean for you to fix the spelling error. That will only advertise to the rest of the connected universe that this very not-extinct species is considered extinct. My recommendation (plea?) is for you to remove the two water beetles from your list entirely.

NO!
28 July 2015 - 11:40PM Tony Rebelo
Rather correct the misconception: why perpetuate it?? Kill it!!
The southern African community has migrated to iNaturalist at www.inaturalist.org with all its data in early 2018. Beware that southern African data and identifications on this site are out of date and no longer updated.

**
28 July 2015 - 11:41PM Riaan Stals
Thank you.

extinct
28 July 2015 - 11:22PM Tony Rebelo
cf http://www.ispotnature.org/node/599574

Thanks, I was looking in all the wrong places for that
28 July 2015 - 11:26PM Riaan Stals
I thought we exchanged those words via personal email.

Swallowing my words, at least in part, albeit technically
29 July 2015 - 3:23AM Riaan Stals

This link to the lizard points to two dates. 2006-1946=60, 60>50. I only now understand the subject line of your comment.
I am stunned for my stupidity. But I apologise only on technical grounds.

Rationalisation:

• 50-year rule can't apply to all different kinds of organisms.
• Beetles ain't monkeys or birds-of-paradise.
• "Rediscovery" of "lost" insects are non-events.
Reality:

• A veritable mountain of literature, not everything from Gland.

I am stunned for my stupidity. I feel rather vulnerable now, albeit only technically. But rules are rules. Tony, I do apologise.

Defiance:

• It will take much longer than two hours, but I can still generate that list of 5,000+ species.

No - 50 years is not good enough
29 July 2015 - 8:02AM Tony Rebelo

I need to read the rules again, but the 50-year rule only applies if the organisms are searched for (at least at and around the type locality).
So you can winnow that list of 5000 to those who have had a specialist or expert or dedicated student/volunteers search the type localities and all other localities within the last 50 years to a degree that some confidence can be asserted that the beasts are no longer there. (but, as a surrogate, if those habitats are reasonably known and are destroyed (e.g. under suburbia/industria, dams, and extensive cropland) then that will do, and the 50-year rule is reduced to 0 years).
And I will add: in Fynbos (only 'cos I know Fynbos betterer): surveyed at the appropriate veld age, season and habitat.
and you can add to your rationalization:

• organisms that have prolonged diapauses or that only appear for short periods following an event (usually a disturbance) need special attention.

Aspalathus amoena was found
9 September 2015 - 9:38AM Douglas Euston-Brown
Aspalathus amoena was found again...

ta
9 September 2015 - 10:57AM Tony Rebelo
fixed

Polhillia ignota
26 November 2016 - 9:32PM Jan-Hendrik
was rediscovered the other day.

Posted on July 20, 2018 01:03 PM by tonyrebelo