Dear colleagues, My co-authors and I are pleased to share our new publication on the genetic diversity of Indian Ocean humpback dolphin in South African waters: Lampert, S. G., Ingle, R. A., Jackson, J., Gopal, K. and S. Plön. 2021. Analysis of mitochondrial control region reveals low genetic diversity of the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin (*Sousa plumbea*) in South African waters. *Endangered Species Research* 46: 91-103. Abstract: The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin *Sousa plumbea* has been described as South Africa’s most endangered marine mammal due to its low abundance, reliance on coastal habitats with increasing anthropogenic threats and high rates of mortality from bycatch in bather protection nets (BPNs). Although the species has been well studied in South Africa, only a single study has examined its molecular ecology to date, and its population structure remains poorly understood. However, understanding population structure is vital for the conservation and management of a species. To address these research gaps for *S*. *plumbea* in South African waters, we analysed the mitochondrial D-loop of 157 museum skin and tooth samples collected between 1963 and 2017 from across the species’ geographic range in South Africa. Our data show that the humpback dolphin has extremely low mitochondrial diversity (haplotype diversity, *H*D = 0.47; nucleotide diversity, π = 0.2%) with only 3 haplotypes identified, which is comparable to the Critically Endangered Māui dolphin *Cephalorhynchus hectori maui* and the Critically Endangered Mekong population of Irrawaddy dolphin *Orcaella brevirostris*. Mitochondrial genetic diversity has not changed significantly in the last 50 yr, despite the high levels of bycatch in BPNs over this time period. Furthermore, we found no evidence of differentiation between dolphins from the KwaZulu-Natal Coast and the Cape South Coast (Western Cape and Eastern Cape). The extremely low mitochondrial diversity we found adds to the growing body of evidence that the humpback dolphin is becoming increasingly vulnerable and that urgent conservation efforts are required for the survival of the species. The publication is open access and can be downloaded here: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v46/p91-103/ Please feel free to contact me if you should have any questions. Best wishes, Stephanie -- Assoc. Prof. Stephanie Plön Medical Virology Department of Pathology Stellenbosch University and Bayworld Centre for Research and Education (BCRE) Port Elizabeth South Africa Cell: +27-76-3791067 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephanie_Ploen *https://iucn-csg.org/stephanie-plon-phd/ <https://iucn-csg.org/stephanie-plon-phd/>*