Specimens of Laonice collected from southern Chile were examined, and one new species was described. Laonice ayseniensis sp. nov. is characterized by having an anteriorly fused prostomium and peristomium, giving a bicornate, cap-shaped appearance; nuchal organs and caruncle extending up to chaetigers 14–16; very small, subtriangular first notopodial postchaetal lamellae, shorter than the neuropodial lamellae; leaf-like notopodial postchaetal lamellae in the branchial region, with pairs 4, 13, and 14 larger and wider than the other pairs; very low dorsal transverse ridges on chaetigers 37–48; the first neuropodial postchaetal lamellae rectangular with rounded edges, oval with earlobe-shaped ventral edges on chaetigers 2–8; ventrolateral pouches from chaetigers 35–48 up to chaetiger 57; hooded hooks with a distal opening; a pygidium with two small ventral papilliform cirri arranged close to each other and five long cirri. Additional information about the morphological characters of L. praecirrata Hartmann-Schro¨der, 1965 is provided, using material collected near to the type locality. An identification key for all South American species is provided