Belonging to the Argestidae Por, 1986, the genus Mesocletodes Sars, 1909 is known as a typical, but not exclusive deep-sea taxon. Within this genus, species belonging to the Mesocletodes abyssicolagroup have dorsal cuticular processes at the cephalothorax and/or the last abdominal somite and extremely elongated furcal rami. Up to date, 9 species of this group are described. During the expedition Diva 1 of RV #8220; Meteor #8221; in August 2000 to the Angola Basin, 20 specimens of the Mesocletodes abyssicola- group were sampled. Distributed to 11 species, all 20 specimens are new to science. The aim of this project was to elucidate the phylogenetic status of the Mesocletodes abyssicola-group. Altogether 14 species (included 5 new described species from the Angola Basin) of the Mesocletodes abyssicola- group were used for a phylogenetic analysis based on morphological characters.