Nine new and less known nematode species from the deep-sea benthos of the Norwegian Sea

Eight new and one less known nematode species are described from Vöring Plateau at 970 m to 1426 m depth and adjacent deep-sea plain at 3062 m depth in the Norwegian Sea: Actinonema grafi sp. nov., Desmodora pilosa Ditlevsen, 1926, Leptolaimus meyer-reili sp. nov., Tarvaia heegeri sp. nov., Diplopeltoides linkei sp. nov., Diplopeltis bathmanni sp. nov., Southerniella nojii sp. nov, Pararaeolaimus rumohri sp. nov. and Theristus altenbachi sp. nov. Differential diagnoses to the eight new species are given.Actinonema grafi, Leptolaimus meyer-reili and Theristus altenbachi are frequently found on Vöring Plateau and belong to the most dominant species, whereas Desmodora pilosa and Pararaeolaimus rumohri are dominant species at few sites only. The other species occur sporadically, in few numbers, and belong — as do Pararaeolaimus rumohri — to seldomly reported nematode genera.Contribution No. 111 from Sonderforschungsbereich 313 der Universität Kiel, Germany.