Ostracoda were collected from temporary ponds on the islands of Lampedusa and Linosa in the hole Pelagie south of Sicily during visits in 1997-1999. Six species have been identified - one Candonidae, two Cyprididae and three Cypridopsidae.Five of these are recorded for the first time from this area. Cypria ophthalmica (Jürine, 1820) was present only on Linosa; and Heterocypris salina (Brady, 1868) occurred only on Lampedusa. Cypridopsis vidua (O.F. Miiller, 1776), Heterocypris incongruens (Ramdhor, 1808), Plesiocypridopsis newtoni (Brady and Robertson, .1870) and Potamocypris arcuata (Sars, 1903) were found on both islands. P. newtoni was represented by sexual populations and H. incongruens by both sexual and all female populations; the other species occurred as females only. The record of bisexual populations of H. incongruens is interesting. We report the morphological features of its hemipenis. However, among other characters, the outer lobe differs from that illustrated by G.W. Miiller (1900) for a German population but resembles that of the males in another population of H. incongruens from northern Spain.