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Abstract
Three new species of free‐living marine nematodes of the genus Belbolla: Belbolla huanghaiensis sp. nov., Belbolla stenocephalum sp. nov. and Belbolla warwicki sp. nov. from the Yellow Sea, China, are described and illustrated. Belbolla huanghaiensis can be separated from other species in the Belbolla genus by the number of oesophageal bulbs (nine), the length of the spicules and gubernacular apophysis, and the size of the two winged precloacal supplements. Belbolla stenocephalum can be separated from other species by the number of oesophageal bulbs (eight), the length of the spicules and the structure of gubernacular apophysis. Belbolla warwicki sp. nov. is characterized by the number of oesophageal bulbs (seven), reduced precloacal supplements and the structure of gubernacular apophysis. A key to the genus Belbolla is provided to facilitate species identification. Types are deposited in the College of Life Science and Technology, Ocean University of China.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Professor R. M. Warwick, Dr M. C. Austin and Dr D. J. Somerfield (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK) for initiating the study on the biodiversity of free‐living marine nematodes in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, and Professor Guy Boucher (Natural History Museum, Paris, France) for comments and suggestions on the draft. The present work is jointly funded by National Key Basic Research Program from The Ministry of Science and Technology, P. R. China (G19990437 and 2002CB412400), and the National Science Foundation of China (Project no. 40176033). We thank also two anonymous referees for their revision and comments.