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Two new species of the family Desmodoridae are described from the upper continental slope of New Zealand, Southwest Pacific, and the genera Spirinia, Chromaspirina and Perspiria are revised. Spirinia verecunda sp. nov. is characterised by a short, stout body, cuticle covered in minute, hair-like structures, unispiral amphideal aperture and cryptospiral amphideal fovea, buccal cavity with small dorsal tooth and minute subventral teeth, eight oblong glands surrounding anterior portion of pharynx, large sperm cells, spicules with weak capitulum, and the absence of precloacal supplements. Stygodesmodora confusa sp. nov. is characterised by a relatively short body, spiral amphids with 1.2–1.4 turns, cephalic setae situated at or slightly posterior to mid-level of amphid, and males with four precloacal supplements consisting of short setae on wide bases. Like other species of the genus, S. confusa sp. nov. is characterised by an annulated head region, but in some specimens the cuticle annulations are restricted to the dorsal and ventral sides of the head. S. confusa sp. nov. shows similarities with species of other desmodorid genera (i.e., Echinodesmodora, Bolbonema), but can be differentiated from them by the presence of an annulated head region and amphideal plates. The genera Spirinia, Chromaspirina and Perspiria have very similar morphologies and differ mainly in the size and structure of the buccal cavity (Spirinia vs Chromaspirina) or the shape of the tail and placement of the amphids relative to the cuticle annulations (Spirinia vs Perspiria); their diagnoses are clarified and some nomenclatural changes are proposed to eliminate overlap in the definitions of these genera.

This article is a review of the subfamily Desmodorinae (Nematoda, Desmodoroidea) and two related genera within this subfamily, Croconema Cobb, 1920 and Pseudochromadora Daday, 1899 with keys to genus or species level, genus diagnoses and lists of valid species. An emended diagnosis of, and discussion on, Sibayinema Swart & Heyns, 1991, is presented. Three new species are described: Croconema floriani sp.n. from the coast of Kenya, Pseudochromadora galeata sp.n. and P. secures sp.n. from the coast of Australia.

Three new species of nematodes (Chromaspirina okemwai sp.n., Pseudochromadora interdigitatum sp. n. and Eubostrichus africanus sp. n.) from Ceriops mangrove sediments and one new species (Eubostrichus longosetosus sp. n.) from the North Sea, along the Belgian coast, are described. Chromaspirina okemwai is characterized by four cephalic sensillae and unispiral amphids; Pseudochromadora interdigitatum has unique lateral alae where body annules split into two, three or four smaller ones. Eubostrichus africanus has short (6 m) cephalic and subcervical setae and five pairs of strong broad based setae at the tail region; Eubostrichus longosetosus has long (14 m) cephalic and subeervical setae, three pairs of strong setae on the tail and two fine ones at the tail tip. Eubostrichus parasitiferus as described by Hopper and Cefalu (1973) is given a new name, E. hopperi sp. n. A revision of the genus Chromaspirina and Pseudochromadora is also included.

Three new species (Psammonema ovisetosum gen. et sp. n., Pseudochromadora coomansi sp. n.and Pseudochromadora buccobulbosa sp. n.; including all juvenile stages) belonging to a known and to a new genus of the family Desmodoridae (Nematoda, Desmodoroidea) were found in sandy sediments of the intertidal zone in front of the estuarine mangroves of Gazi, Kenya. Psammonema gen. n. differs from Pseudochromadora Daday, 1889 in shape and number of somatic setae in pharyngeal region, in position and shape of lateral alae, and in the anterior position of the amphids on the head capsule. Comments are given on the ecto-symbiotic organisms, feeding habits of the species and on the ontogenetic transformations of some morphological characters.

Six species of the family Draconematidae from the intertidal zone of the beaches of Gazi and Malindi, Kenya, are described or provided with additional information. Dracognomus annae sp. n. is characterised by its round rostrum, and by the shape of the male spicules; Dracognomus dermatoglyphus sp. n. is characterized by its indented rostrum, the fingerprint-like pattern of the annules at the mid-body region, and males by their spicules with hook-shaped capitulum; Dracograllus gilbertae sp. n. is characterized by its large fovea amphidialis, its slender posterior adhesion tubes, and a ventral postcloacal swelling at the base of the tail. Only one female and one juvenile was found of a Dracograllus spec. Additional characteristics are described for Dracograllus demani Allen & Noffsinger, 1978 and Dracograllus eira (Inglis, 1968) Allen & Noffsinger, 1978. For most of the species, Scanning Electron Microscopic pictures are shown.

Two new epsilonematid nematode species from Kenyan intertidal areas are describe: Bathyepsilonema anulosum sp. n. -characterized by the large number of body-annules (118-124); small amphid, straight ambulatory setae and the very small copulatory thorns of the males- and Leptepsilonema richardi sp. n., -characterized by the sexual dimorphism in the amphid, the ornamentation of the body cuticle and the umbrella shaped captulum in the males.