Summary: | Among the 125 currently recognized species of the panoceanic genus Leucothoe, L. Antarctica was described in 1888 from the Antarctic seas, but was soon synonymized with the so-called cosmopolitan Leucothoe spinicarpa Abildgaard, which was cited from the Southern Ocean about 70 times since this first record. After erecting a new Antarctic species again only in 1983, “morphological variants” were observed and discussed. In this paper, we revalidate the first defined Antarctic species ( Leucothoe Antarctica ), redescribe the second one ( L. orkneyi ), describe 5 new Southern Ocean species ( L. campbelli sp. nov., L. longimembris sp. nov, L. macquariae sp. nov., L. merletta sp. nov. and L. weddellensis sp. nov.) and provide a key to all Antarctic and sub-Antarctic species.
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