NEW AMERICAN WATER MITES OF THE GENUS 
NEUMANIA 
RUTH MARSHALL 
The genus Neumania was established by H. Lebert in 1879 and 
named in honor of the Swedish hydrochnologist, C. J. Neuman. 
It belongs to the family Hygrobatidae, as given by Wolcott. 
This group of water mites has long been known, the type species, 
N. spinipes, having been described by 0. F. Muller in 1776, al¬ 
though it was then placed in the genus Hydrachna. Cochleo- 
phorus of Piersig (1894) is a synonym for Neumania. 
Twenty-one species are recognized up to this time. Eleven 
species have been described for Europe, two of which are re¬ 
ported also from east Africa. Five others are described from 
Africa, four from Java and Ceyloji; while but one, described from 
material from Central America, has been reported so far from 
the Western Hemisphere. 
The characteristics of the genus have been reviewed in recent 
years by Piersig, Koenike and Wolcott. The body is oval, of 
moderate size for these animals, the length of the body averag¬ 
ing about one millimeter. The integument is soft, with some 
tendency to the development of small plates or points of chitin. 
The epimera are relatively large, covering the greater part of 
the ventral surface; they are in three groups separated by nar¬ 
row spaces. The fourth pair are largest and are nearly rec¬ 
tangular. From the .first group there extends back on each side 
a long triangular piece, like a brace, underneath the third and 
fourth pairs. The genital area is large and close to the epimera. 
In the male the plates of either side are united around the slit 
and form an oval area at the end of the body; in the female the 
slit is longer and the plates are rounded and quite separated. 
The outlines of the large eggs are sometimes seen in the body 
(PI. II, fig. 1). In both sexes the genital plates have conspicu¬ 
ous acetabula (“Napfen”). Rosette-shaped glands underneath 
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