Abstract
This Special Volume of Zootaxa has had a long gestation! Way back in 2011, Pat Hutchings was approached by Anne Hoggett, one of the Co-Directors of Lizard Island Research Station which is a facility of the Australian Museum, with the concept of running a polychaete workshop at Lizard Island. Back in 2005, the first Lizard Island taxonomic workshop investigating biodiversity of amphipod crustaceans was run by Jim Lowry of the Australian Museum and Alan Myers of National University of Ireland (Lowry & Myers 2009). This workshop was part of ongoing efforts to describe the fauna of Lizard Island and to populate the Lizard Island Field Guide (http://lifg.australianmuseum.net.au/Hierarchy.html).