Type species: Pavelius uschakovi Kuznetsov & Levenstein, 1988
Generic diagnosis (emended). Prostomium without lobes or glandular ridges. Buccal tentacles smooth. Four pairs of branchiae. Notochaetae in segment II present, followed by fifteen thoracic chaetigers. Twelve thoracic uncinigers. Two intermediate uncinigers. Males with one pair of nephridial papillae above notopodia of first thoracic unciniger.
Remarks. The generic diagnosis was emended to accommodate our findings in the newly described species. The genus was described lacking notopodial rudiments, which we found in the intermediate uncinigers and first abdominal unciniger. The large nephridial papillae above the notopodia of the first thoracic unciniger only seem to occur in male specimens.
We do not follow Jirkov (2001, 2011), who suggested to synonymize Pavelius with Phyllocomus Grube, 1878. Phyllocomus is characterized by strongly modified branchiae and a very large number of abdominal uncinigers.