Two poorly-known species are systematically studied in detail: Nereis (Nereis) latipalpaSchmarda, 1861 from Cape Town, South Africa, and Nereis (Neanthes) larentukana Grube inPeters, 1881 from Larantuka, Flores, Indonesia. Both are raised from synonymy and transferred to the Perinereis nuntia species complex based upon the revision of type material using characters already known, novel, or even forgotten in the literature. Perinereis latipalpa n. comb. is different from its previous senior synonym P. vallata (Grube & Kröyer inGrube, 1858) and related species. The type or topotype specimens of three other nereidid species share the same relevant features as P. latipalpa n. comb.; these are herein regarded as junior synonyms: Neanthes latipalpaKinberg, 1865, Neanthes latipalpa typicaWilley, 1904, and Perinereis namibiaWilson & Glasby, 1993. Perinereis larentukana n. comb. is redescribed and compared to specimens of the morphologically similar species P. nuntia (Savigny inLamarck, 1818). An improved characterization of P. nuntia using Red Sea specimens similar to the type description was also performed in order to clarify its morphology and restrict the species-complex name content. Other synonymized species of the P. nuntia complex were recognized as distinct: Perinereis brevicirrisGrube, 1866, P. quatrefagesiGrube, 1878, and P. weijhouensis Wu, Sun & Yang, 1981. This was based upon features not considered in the previous revisions but pointed out in the original descriptions. An identification key to the 20 currently valid species within the Perinereis nuntia complex is also provided.