A study on Holocene ostracods (subfamilies Cytherurinae and Paracytherideinae) was carried out in 500 bottom sediments samples recovered along the Brazilian continental shelf from Rio Grande do Sul (33º45’S/52ºW) to Espírito Santo (19º35’S/40ºW) states. New species belonging to the subfamily Cytherurinae are here identifi ed and described as follows: Eucytherura rara sp. nov., E. trifi da sp. nov., E. castellata sp. nov., and Semicytherura reticulocostata sp. nov. Three other species are kept in open nomenclature due to scarcity of material for study: Semicytherura sp. 1, Semicytherura sp. 2 and Hemingwayella sp., the last one representing the subfamily Paracytherideinae. The zoogeographical and stratigraphical analyses revealed that most of the species identifi ed do not exceed the latitude 19º30.1’S with the southernmost record at 33º52’S; some of these species extending to the Uruguayan and Argentinian shelves. Exceptions are the species Semicytherura parallelocostata and Semicytherura sp. 2 that reach the northeast and equatorial Brazilian continental shelves at latitudes 10º32’S and 00º08’S, respectively. Two of the studied species have a fossil record in the Pelotas Basin (Brazil): Hemicytherura auriculata (Miocene and Pleistocene) and Semicytherura rugosoreticulata (Holocene). Hemicytherura lapillata has been recorded in a Holocene outcrop in Bahia Blanca (Argentina).