Structural plastron in relict Gondwanan moss bugs (Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha: Peloridiidae) and its possible implications for systematics, biogeography and for the standard definition of plastron.

Peloridiidae are a family of small hemipterans who live and feed on bryophytes of temperate forests in some regions of the Southern Hemisphere. They are often submerged in water and would require adaptations for respiration to tolerate periods of inundation. Here we report water-repelling cuticular structures on the tergites of thorax and abdomen and on the ventral surface of tegmina in Peloridiidae.