Twenty-six abyssal polychaetes are named from the Mozambique basin off southeast Africa. Three species and two genera are new:
Progoniada simplex,
Berkeleyia profunda,
Bruunilla natalensis, and another in Sphaerodoridae to be described elsewhere. A new family Fauveliopsidae is erected, its species previously allied with Flabelligeridae. Three species are known from Indo-Pacific regions:
Glycera papillosa,
Ammotrypane brevibranchiata,
Phalacrostemma elegans. One,
Axionice spinifera, is antarctic; another,
Scalibregma inflata, is cosmopolitan. Five generic categories are chiefly or wholly abyssal:
Ilyphagus,
Fauveliopsis,
Flabelligella,
Monorchos,
Potamethus. Nine genera are cosmopolitan:
Aphrodita,
Euphrosine,
Phyllochaetopterus,
Chaetozone,
Ammotrypane,
Nicomache,
Myriochele,
Serpula. Unidentifiable species are in families Lacydonidae, Onuphidae, and Ampharetidae. A compendium names abyssal species from depths of 2000 m or more; included are nearly 500 species in 240 genera and 51 families.