Abstract Fourteen species of genera Boccardia, Polydora , and Pseudopolydora are described from Wellington Harbour, including three new species and two new records from New Zealand. The species extensively described are Boccardia ( Boccardia ) magniovata n.sp., B . ( B .) androgyna n.sp., B . ( B .) wellingtonensis n.sp., Pseudopolydora cf. P. paucibranchiata (Okuda), and the European species Polydora hoplura Claparède. Diagnostic descriptions and information supplementary to the original records are given for the nine Wellington species that were previously known from elsewhere in New Zealand waters, and notes on live coloration, reproduction, and habitat are given for all species. The distinctions between the polydorid genera are discussed; the diagnosis of Pseudopolydora is modified, and Paraboccardia is reduced to a subgenus of Boccardia .