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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.
During the Census of Marine Life Polarstern ANDEEP I-III and Meteor M79/1 DIVA-3 expeditions, autonomous baited trap systems were employed to sample the mobile, necrophagous amphipods from abyssal depths. Within DIVA-3 (July 10–August 26 2009), a free-fall baited trap was used successfully at three stations in the southwest Atlantic, once in the Argentine Basin and twice in the Brazilian Basin. A total of twenty-one stations were sampled by baited traps during the ANDEEP I-III (2002, 2005) cruises in the Southern Ocean. Trap sets recovered large numbers of scavenging lysianassoid and alicelloid amphipods, including specimens of the widespread and commonly considered cosmopolitan uristid species Abyssorchomene abyssorum (Stebbing, 1888). During examinations of these and other North Atlantic collections of A. abyssorum, two similar new species A. patriciae sp. nov. and A. shannonae sp. nov. were discovered. Important morphological characters which differentiate the two new species from their congeners are found in the shape of the head lobe, coxa 1, gnathopod 2, coxa 5, pereopod 7 basis and uropod 3 rami length. The new species are fully figured and an identification key is provided. Abyssorchomene abyssorum is redescribed and for the first time, the female is fully described and illustrated from new material. The Southern Ocean endemic A. scotianensis (Andres, 1983) is also described and illustrated from new collections to complement the original description.