[3] They are wingless, blind and viviparous ectoparasites of African rodents, and have filiform segmented cerci.

Hemimeridae contains eleven described species placed within two genera: Hemimerus and Araeomerus (Nakata and Maa, 1974).

Hemimerids are relatively small (5–15 mm) and inhabit the fur of giant nesomyid rats in Africa.

Hemimerids have short, broad legs with grooves that allow them to cling to the host and specialized mouthparts for scraping dead skin and fungus from their host (Nakata and Maa, 1974).

Araeomerus is found in the nest of long-tailed pouch rats (Beamys) and Hemimerus is found on giant (Cricetomys) rats (Nakata and Maa, 1974).