THE WOLKBERG ZULU BUTTERFLY Good news for a local icon

“…what men consider important, such as abstractions, is really unimportant, and what men consider to be unimportant, such as a leaf or a bird, is really of the utmost importance.”Norman Friedman, (Re)Valuing Cummings: Further Essays on the Poet, 1996

Villagers and visitors will be glad to hear the news that our favourite butterfly, the critically endangered Wolkberg Zulu (Alaena margaritacea), is now protected by law. A conservation servitude for its legal protection has been registered on its type locality just outside our humble hamlet on the mountain. Ours is the first butterfly conservation servitude in the country, and the first conservation servitude at all in Limpopo.

The Wolkberg Zulu is a tiny creature spanning about 25 mm from wingtip to wingtip. It enjoys mostly low, feeble flights from grass blade to grass blade. The larva feeds on crustose rock lichens. These are the very hard, dark lichens that look like part of the rock. One sees them frequently on walks in the surrounding veld. When our mist comes in, the lichens soften and the larvae feed. They hide in crevices most of the time, but when they are out in the open, mottled patterns on their skin encrypt them against the rock, and long hairs protect them from predators and ants. Recently, it has been discovered that the female scent marks the grass blades to call males who will search for her.

The butterfly was discovered by a young Margaret Kenway on a collecting excursion with her dad just outside the village in 1925: it is a fine coincidence that the servitude comes at the centenary of the discovery. Its locality got lost and, after fourteen years of ardent searching, the legendary butterflyer who was also a barman at the Great North Road Hotel in Pietersburg, D. A. Swanepoel, who wrote beautifully about the insect, rediscovered it in 1939. It subsequently took 88 years to find a second locality on which it occurs. In 2013, Sylvie Kremer-Köhne came across them further away from the village, and this made national and international news.

A portion of the land incorporated in the servitude boasts a vegetation type known as Woodbush granite grassland, which is also critically endangered (see the sister article on grassland protection in this magazine). Less than ten percent and, according to a more recent survey, perhaps even less than one percent of this vegetation type remains intact. It is a privilege for us to be surrounded by this special kind of veld and its diversity of rocks, soils, plants, and animals—not least, surely, our iconic butterfly, a local protagonist frequently discussed among us in casual conversation. This kind of conversation is in fact a real joy of living in our village.

Gustav van Veijeren, the owner of the farm on which the type locality is situated, magnanimously agreed to the servitude, which has now given a solid boost to the butterfly’s chances of survival. The locally formed Wolkberg Zulu Butterfly Conservation Servitude (WZBCS) committee delegated Louis Changuion to perform the critical duty of the first meeting with Gustav. The committee, spearheaded by Etienne Terblanche, was formed in October 2021, comprising Bronwyn Egan, Vincent Egan, Ingrid van der Merwe, Sylvie Kremer-Köhne, and Bernardine Altenroxel. These indigenes have worked for three and a half years to bring the project to fruition, making them no less than local heroes! 

Our little butterfly brought together the Lepidopterist Society of Africa (LSA), the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), Badenhorst Attorneys in Humansdorp, and our six local heroes in the effort to conserve it. Dave Edge from the LSA first initiated the project and, early on, the ETW came into the fold to give legal support and finance the costs of registering the servitude. Ian Little, its Head of Conservation, and Cobus Theron, former programme manager at the organization, were instrumental for the success of the undertaking. 

The registration of the servitude is not the end, but only the beginning. Etienne Terblanche will continue as the custodian of the Wolkberg Zulu as part of the LSA’s COREL (Conservation of Rare and Endangered Lepidoptera) programme and for the time being will remain the chairperson of the WZBCS committee. Together, and in collaboration with Gustav van Veijeren, the committee will implement an integrated management plan to conserve the area. The EWT has also indicated that they will remain involved, and researchers from further afield have already responded to the servitude news by offering research projects centred on the wellbeing of the butterfly.

It is hoped that these events will inspire other farmers in our neck of the woods to follow in Gustav’s footsteps if they find an area of their property that has to be protected in the same manner. The servitude demonstrates that farmers do care deeply for the earth, and they are the ones most frequently at the forefront of our human contact with it. We are enormously grateful to Gustav and proud to be associated with him around this conservation effort. May the Wolkberg Zulu survive for the enjoyment and research opportunities of generations to come here in the undulating and steep slopes of the Wolkberg with its unsurpassed grasslands and forest.

Digital Links:  

>The project has been covered widely, among others by News24, the Mail & Guardian, and RSG: Radio Sonder Grense, as well as the website known as the Good Things Guy. 

• Open access to a comprehensive article on the matter is available at the Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-11-big-win-for-a-tiny-butterfly-wolkberg-zulu-gets-legal-protection.

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• The RSG interview with Etienne can be heard at minute 39 of a potgooi: https://www.rsg.co.za/rsg/potgooi-resultaat/?_sft_category=spektrum-potgooi&post_date=20250211.