Abstract
One new genus, Paramphimonhystrella gen. nov., and three new species of free‐living marine nematodes in this genus, P. elegans sp. nov., P. minor sp. nov., and P. sinica sp. nov., are described and illustrated from the Yellow Sea, China. Paramphimonhystrella gen. nov. differs from the similar genus Amphimonhystrella by the elongated buccal cavity, cervical setae and large caudal glands. Paramphimonhystrella elegans sp. nov. is characterized by ovoid amphids and spicules with a small hook at distal end and cylindrical part of tail shorter than conical part. Paramphimonhystrella sinica sp. nov. is characterized by circular amphids, wide buccal cavity, spicules with blunt tip, and cylindrical part of tail longer than conical part. Paramphimonhystrella minor sp. nov. differs from the other two species by its smaller body (shorter than 800 µm), circular amphids, and spicules with sharp tip. The type species of this new genus is P. elegans gen. nov. and sp. nov. Types are deposited in the College of Marine Life Sciences, 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. The present work is jointly funded by the 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. 40576061). We are also very much indebted to all crew members of R/V Beidou for their kind help with sample collection.