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Among the 125 currently recognized species of the panoceanic genus Leucothoe, <em>L. antarctica</em> was described in 1888 from the Antarctic seas, but was soon synonymized with the so-called cosmopolitan <em>Leucothoe spinicarpa</em> Abildgaard, which was cited from the Southern Ocean about 70 times since this first record. After erecting a new Antarctic species again only in 1983, “morphological variants” were observed and discussed. In this paper, we revalidate the first defined Antarctic species (<em>Leucothoe antarctica</em>), redescribe the second one (<em>L. orkneyi</em>), describe 5 new Southern Ocean species (<em>L. campbelli</em> sp. nov., <em>L. longimembris</em> sp. nov., <em>L. macquariae</em> sp. nov., <em>L. merletta</em> sp. nov. and <em>L. weddellensis</em> sp. nov.) and provide a key to all Antarctic and sub-Antarctic species.