Based mainly on the authors' own material from north and central Norway, and on the Ymer expedition material from the Arctic, descriptions of the five Arctic and Scandinavian species of the family Oweniidae, including scanning electron micrographs of chaetae are given, together with the distributions of the species. One new species from the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic is described. A key to the Arctic and Scandinavian species is given. The zoogeography of the Scandinavian and Arctic species is discussed. The position of Boguea Hartman, 1945 and Boguella Hartman & Fauchald, 1971, originally referred to the family Oweniidae, is discussed, and it is concluded that the closest relatives of the bogueids should be sought within the Maldanidae and not within the Terebellomorpha. Mainly on the basis of the appearance and presumed evolution of the ventral chaetae the phylogeny of the four oweniid genera currently considered valid is discussed.
