Ampharetidae comprises about 300 species and 100 genera, more than 50 are monotipic. As a first step towards a revision of the family, all 30 species with modified thoracic notopodia are reviewed. These 27 species had previously been organized into 11 genera, but several more genera need to be established if we follow a traditional approach to taxonomy of family. Based on a critical re-evaluation of 12 characters commonly used in ampharetid taxonomy and traditional weighting of these characters, it is proposed to combine these 30 species into 3 genera: Anobothrus, Zatsepinia and Sosane. A posteriori the following characters are of high value in ampharetid taxonomy: type of prostomium, modification of notopodia, presence/absence of a pair of well developed nephridial papillae behind the branchiae, presence/absence of a circular band on anterior thorax, number of uncinigers with modified notopodia, amount of uncinigers with neuropodia of thoracic type. The following characters are considered of low value for generic distinction among Ampharetidae: type of buccal tentacles, presence/absence of paleae, number of thoracic and abdominal uncinigers, pairs of branchiae, type of branchostyles. The taxonomic part of the paper includes redescriptions of 7 species based on type material and new records. Anobothrus patersoni sp.n., A. mironovi sp.n., and A. nataliae sp.n. are described as new to science. The species descriptions are accompanied by remarks on geographic and bathymetric distribution. The replacement of different species in different geographic areas is shown.
