Abstract Polycopidae Sars, 1866 ostracods from the DIVA
II expedition of the RV “Meteor” at the Cape, Angola, and
Guinea basins are presented here. They were collected
between 26 February and 30 March 2005, from depths
between 5,047 and 5,150 m. Metapolycope divae sp. nov.
belongs to the subfamily Polycopsisinae Chavtur, 1983, and
stands apart from the other representatives of the genus by
the morphology of the uropodal lamellae. The remaining
eight new species described herein belong to the subfamily
Polycopinae Sars, 1866. The genus Archypolycope Chavtur,
1981 is represented in the investigated area by four new
species: A. atlantica sp. nov., A. brandtae sp. nov., A. louisi
sp. nov., and A. martinezi sp. nov. With the addition of these
four new species, this genus is redefined to include six
Recent and three fossil species. Archypolycope atlantica is
the only representative in the family with six bristles ventrally
on the first segment of the mandibula. The other three
new species stand apart by the specific shell ornamentation,
chaetotaxy of the maxillula, and morphology of the uropodal
lamellae. Archypolycope cornea Chavtur, 1981 and A.
rotunda Chavtur, 1981, both described from the abyssal
depths of the Kuril-Kamchatka trench, are here excluded
from the genus. The decision is based on the absence of the
peculiar morphology of the fifth limb endopod, which is
shared by all other Archypolycope. These species are transferred
to the genus Pseudopolycope Chavtur, 1981, because
they have a fifth limb endopod consisting of a segment and
one terminal bristle, but are placed in separate new subgenus
Divacope subgen. nov. The new subgenus differs from the
nominotypical subgenus by a much shorter fusion of the two
bristles on the Bellonci Organ, and by the presence of hooks
on the male antenna. Besides Pseudopolycope (D.) cornea
(Chavtur, 1981) comb. nov. and P. (D.) rotunda (Chavtur,
1981) comb. nov, the subgenus has been defined to include
one more member: P. (D.) chavturi sp. nov., which is also
described from the deep South Atlantic and designated the
type species of the new subgenus. It is most closely related
to P. (D.) cornea, but differs from it by the chaetotaxy of the
antennula and morphology of the exopod mandibula. Two
new species, P. (P.) quasivitjazi sp. nov. and P. (P.) spio sp.
nov., from the deep South Atlantic are added to the nominotypical
subgenus, which now has 15 Recent species. One
of the new species described here could not be accommodated
into any of the known Polycopinae genera, so the new
genus Hyphalocope gen. nov. was erected for it, and defined
by the following autapomorphies: completely flat dorsal
margin of the shell, presence of the bifurcated bristles on
the shell, elongated antennula, and very long Bellonci
Organ. Presently, Hyphalocope dorsoithys gen. et sp. nov.
is known only from females. We provide a key to genera of
the family Polycopidae, and keys to species of the genera
Metapolycope, Archypolycope, and Pseudopolycope. In order
to learn about the phylogenetic relationships and to point
out some current problems of polyphyletic and paraphyletic
genera in the subfamily Polycopinae, we perform a cladistic
analysis based on 29 morphological characters scored for 91 Recent species. Two species from the genus Metapolycope
are chosen as outgroups. Extensive discussion on the distribution
and suitability of morphological characters in this
family is also provided. All Recent species of Polycopidae
are listed at the end, with information about their geographic
and bathymetric distributions, habitat, presence of sexes,
and body length.