The total number of kinorhynchs identified to species, from the Aotearoa New Zealand region, is 18, representing
almost 5% of the global total for Kinorhyncha. The exploration and description of kinorhynchs from New Zealand
waters was limited to three studies prior to the seminal review of Neuhaus et al. (2010): ): (1) Coull & Wells
(1981), who listed the first named record, Echinoderes cf. coulli Higgins, 1977; (2) Adrianov & Malakhov (1999),
who described the first two (new) New Zealand species, Echinoderes malakhovi Adrianov, 1999 in Adrianov &
Malakhov 1999, and Pycnophyes newzealandiensis Adrianov, 1999 in Adrianov & Malakhov 1999, from a Russian
expedition to the western Pacific and New Zealand in the early 1990s; and (3) Neuhaus & Blasche (2006), who
added the new genus Fissuroderes to the fauna with four new species of Fissuroderes. Neuhaus et al. (2010) listed a
total of seven named species and 39 undescribed species. The recent study by Grzelak & Sørensen (2022) resulted
in the discovery of 11 new species for the region (Fig. 30.2), and further research has revealed a further named species,
five undescribed species (Table 30.1), and two species have been deleted from the record due to uncertainty
(Table 30.2). It is expected that the discovery rate of new species and rate of new species description will increase
during the next decade. A checklist of New Zealand extant kinorhynchs is provided.