The paper contains an updated checklist of marine planktonic copepods in three areas off southern Africa: the Atlantic tropical region from 11°N to 17°S; the area influenced by the Benguela system (south of 17°S in the eastern Atlantic, i.e. the coasts of Namibia and western South Africa, which are generally treated separately in the literature); the area influenced by the Agulhas Current (south of 10°S in the western Indian Ocean). All synonymies and names have been revised according to updated nomenclature and general annotations on worldwide distribution included for all species. One genus and 16 species are recorded for the first time off Namibia. From the 1 950 known species of marine and brackish water planktonic copepods, 511 species (26%) from 42 families (69%) and 114 genera (45%) are cited for the three areas studied. In total, 86 species are cited exclusively for the tropical Atlantic, 20 exclusively for Namibia, four for the South African west coast and three for the South African south and east coasts. Only 192 species are common to all areas studied.