Collections of polychaetes made on the Snares Islands in 1961, 1967 and 1968-69 by members of the University of Canterbury Snares Islands Expeditions are reported on. All specimens were collected intertidally or from the shallow sub-littoral, and represent the first polychaetes recorded from the group.
Twenty species are recorded including three new species,
Notophycus minutus,
Nudisyllis tinihekea and
Marphysa unibranchiata. Two new genera,
Nudisyllis and
Notophycus have been established, the latter being the sole genus in a new family, the Notophycidae. A further five species are recorded for the first time from the New Zealand region.