Abstract. – The following paper contains a study of talitrid populations of two beach dune systems in Apulia (Lesina and Isola Varano), on the Adriatic coast of southern Italy. Two species were identified: Talitrus saltator and Macarorchestia remyi. Of the two populations, we concentrated on T. saltator, which is the most abundant species in the study area. However, M. remyi is worthy of mention, since it is the first record of an Adriatic population of the species. Bimonthly samplings were taken from August 2003 to July 2004 at Lesina and from January to December 2002 at Isola Varano. Abundances of talitrids were maximal in August at Lesina and in May at Isola Varano. Sex ratio was female biased at the two sites for T. saltator, whereas it did not differ significantly from equality in M. remyi. Mean zone level for each species was higher the shoreline in summer compared to cold months in the two localities.