This paper is the first comparative study of females of the order Mormonilloida Boxshall, 1979 from three distinct localities. New taxonomic characters of mormonillids are distinguished; the diagnoses of females of the family Mormonillidae Giesbrecht, 1893, and the diagnoses of females of the genus Mormonilla Giesbrecht, 1891 (emended) as well as the newly established genus Neomormonilla gen. nov. are presented. A new species, N. extremata sp. nov. is described, based on a female collected from a hydrothermal vent community of the East Pacific Rise (13 ◦ N, depth 2514 m, 50 m over bottom). Females of the type species, N. minor (Giesbrecht, 1891) comb. nov., common in plankton of the northeastern Atlantic, are studied anew. Females of N. polaris (G.O. Sars, 1900) comb. nov., from plankton near the North Pole (Arctic Ocean, depths 300-1000 m) are re-examined and the validity of the species is re-established.