The palp morphology of Dipolydora coeca, D. quadrilobata. Polydora ciliata,
P. cornuta and Pseudopolydora pulchra were studied with light and scanning
electron microscope. Two new palp characters were found on the two species
of Dipolydora: randomly scattered motile cirri and glandular holes. The pa
lp morphology of the investigated species is compared with earlier reports
on other members of the Polydora complex. Congeneric palp similarities are
found in Polydora and Dipolydora. A single exception is the aberrant Dipoly
dora commensalis. which has a distinctive palp morphology not found in any
other spionid. The palp morphology of the two closely related genera Dipoly
dora and Polydora is significantly different, which supports the validity o
f the recently resurrected genus Dipolydora. Comparative studies indicate t
hat the palp morphology of Pseudopolydora pulchra closely resembles that of
Dipolydora. The recently studied palp morphology of Boccardia polybranchia
has many similarities with that of Polydora.