Hydryphantidae Piersig, 1896

Gerecke, Reinhard, 2020, The early derivative water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia, superfamilies Eylaoidea, Hydrachnoidea and Hydryphantoidea) of Madagascar, Zootaxa 4727 (1), pp. 1-77 : 30

Family Hydryphantidae Piersig, 1896

This family is probably a para- or polyphyletic assemblage of early derivative clades ( Dabert et al. 2016). Included genera are highly diverse in morphology and behaviour, most of them are restricted to the northern hemisphere. For more than 100 years, Hydryphantidae was known in Madagascar only from stagnant-water dwelling hydryphantines ( Hydryphantes incertus Koenike, 1893 ), diplodontines ( Diplodontus schaubi Koenike, 1893 and D. opimus Koenike, 1896 ), and mamersines ( Mamersa testudinata Koenike, 1898 ) ( Gerecke 2004a). In a revision of the African species of Diplodontus , a genus previously known only from species living in ponds and lakes, Gerecke (2004) described two Madagascan species adapted to running waters.