ABSTRACT
The initial task for this study was to assemble a species list for each of the major benthic taxa of the Southern Ocean. The approach taken was to combine a study of the most recent taxonomic review of a particular group with a thorough search of both the earlier literature and all of the literature published since that review that we could locate. Extensive searches of the modern literature were undertaken to locate newly described taxa, and the general reviews most important as a starting point were those of Dell (1972, 1990) and Arntz et al. (1994, 1997). Our definition of the Southern Ocean means that we have excluded taxa found only at Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, Prince Edward and Marion Islands, Macquarie Island, Îles Crozet, Îles Kerguelen and the Magellan region of South America.
