In July 2007, >100 striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba , were found dead along the coast of the Spanish Mediterranean. Of 10 dolphins tested, 7 were positive for a virus strain closely related to the dolphin morbillivirus that was isolated during a previous epizootic in 1990.

Aim We test the similarity-distance decay hypothesis on a marine host-parasite system, inferring the relationships from abundance data gathered at the lowest scale of parasite community organization (i.e. that of the individual host).Location Twenty-two seasonal samples of the bogue Boops boops (Teleostei: Sparidae) were collected at seven localities along a coastal positional gradient from the northern North-East Atlantic to the northern Mediterranean coast of Spain.Methods We used our own, taxonomically consistent, data on parasite communities. The variations in parasite composition and structure with geographical and regional distance were examined at two spatial scales, namely local parasite faunas and component communities, using both presence-absence (neighbour joining distance) and abundance (Mahalanobis distance) data. The influence of geographical and regional distance on faunal/community divergence was assessed through the permutation of distance matrices. ResultsOur results revealed that: (1) geographical and regional distances do not affect the species composition in the system under study at the higher scales; (2) geographical distance between localities contributes significantly to the decay of similarity estimated from parasite abundance at the lowest scale (i.e. the individual host); (3) the structured spatial patterns are consistent in time but not across seasons; and (4) a restricted clade of species (the 'core' species of the bogue parasite fauna) contributes substantially to the observed patterns of both community homogenization and differentiation owing to the strong relationship between local abundance and regional distribution of species.Main conclusions The main factors that tend to homogenize the composition of parasite communities of bogue at higher regional scales are related to the dispersal of parasite colonizers across host populations, which we denote as horizontal neighbourhood colonization. In contrast, the spatial structure detectable in quantitative comparisons only, is related to a vertical neighbourhood colonization associated with larval dispersal on a local level. The stronger decline with distance in the spatial synchrony of the assemblages of the 'core' species indicates a close-echoing environmental synchrony that declines with distance. Our results emphasize the importance of the parasite supracommunity (i.e. parasites that exploit all hosts in the ecosystem) to the decay of similarity with distance.

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Antarctophthirus microchir was originally described from Phocarctos hookeri on the basis of 1 female and 1 male only. We redescribe adults and describe, for the first time, the 3 nymphal stages from specimens collected from Otaria flavescens from Patagonia, using light and scanning electron microscopy. The present material can be distinguished from other Antarctophthirus species by the presence of a fringe of setae on the back of the head, only present in Antarctophthirus trichechi and Antarctophthirus callorhini. However, A. trichechi also possess a prominent proboscis with large hooks, and A. callorhini presents less abundant and nonuniform abdominal scales in shape and size. Other differential features of A. microchir are the pattern of ovoid and uniform scales and longitudinal grooves in the surface of spines. Nymphal stage 1 differs from 2 and 3 mainly by the absence of scales and thorax without ventral spines or hairs. Nymphal stages 2 and 3 may be distinguished by the disposition of the occipital apophyses. Antarctophthirus microchir has been reported from 5 sea lion species from both hemispheres. Considering the conservative morphology, and ecological and evolutionary features of sucking lice, we raise the question of whether A. microchir from different sea lion hosts may represent a complex of cryptic species.