COPEPODS OF THE GENUS HALICYCLOPS (CYCLOPIDAE) FROM BELIZE

Halicyclops tetracanthus sp.n. and H. venezuelaensis Lindberg were fou nd in the Sittee River Estuary, Belize. The new species is distinguish ed from all its congeners by having a distal spine and two spiniform h eterogeneously ornamented setae on the inner margin of the terminal en dopodal segment of legs 2 and 3. Halicyclops venezuelaensis, previousl y known only from Venezuela is redescribed based on specimens of both sexes. Differences in the ornamentation as well as in the relative len gth of some setae of the maxilla and maxilliped are pointed out as add itional useful characters in the taxonomy of Halicyclops. This is the first record of Halicyclops in Belize.