Copepods of the genus Halicyclops (Cyclopidae) from Belize

Halicyclops tetracanthus sp.n. and H. venezuelaensis Lindberg were found in the Sittee Estuary, Belize. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by having a distal spine and two spiniform heterogeneously ornamented setae on the inner margin of the terminal endopodal segment of legs 2 and 3. Halicyclops venezuelaensis, previously known only from Venezuela is redescribed based on specimens of both sexes. Differences in the ornamentation as well as in the relative length of some setae of the maxilla and maxilliped are pointed out as additional useful characters in the taxonomy of Halicyclops. This is the first record of Halicyclops in Belize.