Urechis novae-zealandiae (Dendy) which was recorded by Dendy in 1897, but never described apart from a few brief notes, is described and figured from some of Dendy's material supplemented by specimens from other parts of New Zealand. A lectotype is selected from Dendy's specimens. The species is confined to New Zealand and distributional records range from Auckland to Stewart Island.

In 1897, Dendy when reporting on a collection of marine animals washed up after a storm on Brighton Beach, near Christchurch, recorded a new species of Echiuroid, stating that he proposed to describe it later under the name Echiurus novae-zealandiae. However this description was never published, and apart from Dendy's brief notes there is no account of this species. Dendy's notes (1897, p. 323) are as follows: “This animal in life resembles an elongated cylindrical bag or bolster. It may be more than 8in long, with a thickness in the middle of about 1in when extended. When contracted it looks like a short thick sausage, becoming loose and baggy when badly preserved. The colour in life is dark purplish red, and the body cavity is filled with a dark red liquid resembling blood and containing numerous corpuscles. The skin is smooth. Anteriorly the body is produced into a very short proboscis, resembling a stand-up collar with a slit down the front. At the base of the collar, below the slit are two heavy hooks. A single ring of similar hooks surrounds the body at the hinder end, a short way in front of the terminal anus. The animal resembles a Japanese species, Echiurus uncinatus, which is used by the Japanese fishermen for bait, but it differs in its much larger size, its smooth integument and probably also in some details of its internal anatomy.”

Dendy obtained eight specimens of this species. Three of these are now in the Canterbury Museum. In addition the Canterbury Museum collections include three immature specimens from 20 fathoms, off Banks Peninsula, and a large well preserved specimen with the locality Lyttelton on the label. The following description is based on the above specimens. Additional material in the collections of the Otago Museum, the Dominion Museum, the Auckland Museum, and the Zoology Department, Victoria University College, has also been examined.

The author wishes to thank the Directors of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, the Otago Museum, Dunedin, the Dominion Museum, Wellington, the Auckland Museum and Professor L. R. Richardson, Victoria University College, Wellington, for the loan of material.

The genus Urechis contains four species, U. uncinatus (Drache) from Japan, U. chilensis (Müller) from the Straits of Magellan, U. caupo Fisher and MacGinitie from California and U. novae-zealandiae (Dendy) from New Zealand, all with a very uniform outer facies. According to Fisher (1946) all signs point to Urechis being the last of a very ancient stock, one that may have flowered into many species during Paleozic times. It belongs, in his view, to the honourable company of Lingula and other living fossils.

Bock (1942) includes the genus Urechis with Echiurus in the family Echiuridae of the order Echiuroinea. Fisher (1946) erected a new order Xenopneusta to include the genus Urechis. Fisher's classification is followed in the present account.