Rhynchospio Hartman, 1936

Rhynchospio Hartman, 1936: 51; Fauchald 1977: 25; Blake & Kudenov 1978: 198 –199; Radashevsky 2007: 996. Malacoceros (Rhynchospio) .— Pettibone 1963: 98 –99; Foster 1971: 48.

Type-species. Rhynchospio arenincola Hartman, 1936, by monotypy.

Remarks. Rhynchospio Hartman, 1936 is a small group of spionid polychaetes currently comprising ten species. The species were recently reviewed and a key to their identification was provided by Radashevsky et al. (2014).

First Rhynchospio from Australia were reported by Blake & Kudenov (1978) who described two new species, R. glycera from Burwood Beach, New South Wales, and R. australiana from Perth, West Australia. Both species were described based on single individuals, never re-described and not reported from other localities.