Copepods are present in almost all aquatic environments, playing a key role in food webs, and are thought to be useful indicators of environmental change. Boeckella is a calanoid copepod genus distributed mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, with 14 species reported exclusively from higher southern latitudes. We present an updated database of these 14 species of Boeckella generated from a combination of three sources: 1) new field sampling data, 2) published records, and 3) Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), to provide a comprehensive description of the geographic distribution of the genus south of latitude 40ºS in southern South America and the three-main terrestrial biogeographic regions of Antarctica. The database includes 380 records, 62 from field sampling, 278 from the literature and 40 from GBIF records. Southern South America, including Falkland/Malvinas Islands, had the highest richness and records (14 and 297), followed by the sub-Antarctic islands with 34 records and five species, South Orkney Islands (15 and 2), South Shetland Islands (23 and 1) and finally a single species (B. poppei) recorded from the Antarctic Peninsula south to Alexander Island and continental Antarctica. This latter species is the only representative of the genus, and more widely the only terrestrial/freshwater invertebrate, currently reported from all three main biogeographic regions in Antarctica (sub-, maritime and continental Antarctic). Future development of molecular systematic studies in this group should contribute to assess the correspondence between morphological taxonomy and molecular evolutionary radiation.

Keywords: Antarctica, Calanoida, freshwater ecosystems, sub-Antarctic islands, Patagonia