Abstract

A new species Halicmetus odysseus sp. nov. was described from the South China Sea, which differs from closely related species in the shape of the upper edge of the illicial cavity, the structure of the scale cover (modified into bucklers and spines), pigmentation, and other features. The morphological characteristics of the species H. ruber have been specified based on the results of studying eight specimens from the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean; the heterogeneity of the literature material attributed to this species was noted, on the basis of which its combined nature is not excluded. A key has been compiled to identify known Halicmetus species from the South China Sea and Indian Ocean (eastward to the Gulf of Thailand and the Great Sunda Islands).