Catalogue of the Distribution and Ecological Relationships of North American Hydracarina

Abstract

The literature on the Hydracarina, or water mites, especially on the North American fauna, is widely scattered in many journals. The papers of Koenike (1895 and 1912) and Wolcott (1898-1905) represent the earliest comprehensive works on American water mites. The papers of Marshall (1903-1946) list many species, but are not summarized. Mitchell (1954), whose check list represents the first modern attempt to examine the extent of work on North American water mites, lists 291 species which had been reported from this continent at that time. That paper is based primarily on those species in the collection of the Chicago Natural History Museum. Habeeb (1959) lists 446 species and subspecies, but in the absence of annotations some of the listings remain questionable.