The Peloridiidae or moss bugs are a
family of
true bugs, comprising eighteen genera and thirty-four species. They are small, ranging in length from 2 to 4 mm, rarely seen, peculiarly lumpy, flattened bugs found in
Patagonia (
Argentina and
Chile),
New Zealand, eastern
Australia,
Lord Howe Island, and
New Caledonia. Peloridiids are found amongst
mosses and
liverworts, commonly in association with
southern beech forests. They have become known as moss bugs for their habit of feeding on mosses. Almost all Peloridiidae species are flightless, except one (Peloridium hammoniorum).[a] Their present distribution suggests they have existed since before the breakup of
Gondwana. They are the only living members of the suborder
Coleorrhyncha, which first appeared in the Upper Permian, over 250 million years ago.
Evolution
Peloridiidae are the only extant[b] family in the suborder
Coleorrhyncha. Historically the Peloridiidae and their fossil kin were assigned to a variety of orders. In 1929 they were placed in the
Homoptera,[3] in 1962 they were placed in the
Auchenorrhyncha,[4] in 1963 they were placed in the
Cicadomorpha,[5] and in 1997 they were placed in
Fulgoromorpha.[6] However, essentially all sources since 1969 are in consensus that the Peloridiidae belong in Coleorrhyncha and that Coleorrhyncha is a sister group to the Heteroptera.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
The question remains whether this affinity between the Coleorrhyncha and the Heteroptera necessitates the imposition of a suborder between them and the order
Hemiptera. In 1995 Sorensen proposed the name
Prosorrhyncha for such a suborder.[14] (See the
Heteroptera and
Prosorrhyncha pages for a discussion).
The oldest members of Coleorrhyncha are known from the
Upper Permian, over 250 million years ago, assigned to the family
Progonocimicidae. It is likely that Progonocimicidae is
paraphyletic, with other families of Coleorrhyncha derived from it. The closest relatives of Peloridiidae are the
Hoploridiidae from the Early Cretaceous of Asia.[15]
^Burckhardt, Daniel (2009). "Taxonomy and phylogeny of the Gondwanan moss bugs or Peloridiidae (Hemiptera, Coleorrhyncha)". Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift. 56 (2): 173–235.
doi:
10.1002/mmnd.200900019.
^Myers, John Golding & China, William Edward (1929). "The systematic position of the Peloridiidae as elucidated by a further study of the external anatomy of Hemiodoecus leadi China". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 105 (3): 282–294.
doi:
10.1080/00222932908672971.
^China, William Edward (1962). "South American Peloridiidae (Hemiptera–Homoptera: Coleorrhyncha)". Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 114 (5): 131–161.
doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2311.1962.tb01077.x.
^Schlee, Dieter (1969). "Morphologie und Symbiose, ihre Beweiskraft für die Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen der Coleorrhyncha (Insecta, Hemiptera): phylogenetische Studien an Hemiptera IV: Heteropteroidea (Heteroptera+ Coleorrhyncha) als monophyletische Gruppe". Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde (in German). 210: 1–27.
^Wheeler, Ward C.; Schuh, Randall T. & Bang, Ranhy (1993). "Cladistic relationships among higher groups of Heteroptera: congruence between morphological and molecular data sets". Insect Systematics & Evolution. 24 (2): 121–137.
doi:
10.1163/187631293X00235.
^Campbell, Bruce C.; Steffen-Campbell, Jody D.; Sorensen, John T. & Gill, Raymond J. (1995). "Paraphyly of Homoptera and Auchenorrhyncha inferred from 18S rDNA nucleotide sequences". Systematic Entomology. 20 (3): 175―194.
doi:
10.1111/j.1365-3113.1995.tb00090.x.
S2CID86424475.
^Schuh, Randall T. & Slater, James Alexander (1995). True bugs of the world (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): classification and natural history. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
ISBN978-0-8014-2066-5.
^Ouvrard, David; Campbell, Bruce C.; Bourgoin, Thierry & Chan, Kathleen L. (2000). "18S rRNA Secondary Structure and Phylogenetic Position of Peloridiidae (Insecta, Hemiptera)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 16 (3): 403–417.
doi:
10.1006/mpev.2000.0797.
PMID10991793.
S2CID20926719.
^Sorensen, John T.; Campbell, Bruce C.; Gill, Raymond J. & Steffen-Campbell, Jody D. (1995). "Non-monophyly of Auchenorrhyncha ("Homoptera"), based upon 18S rDNA phylogeny: eco-evolutionary and cladistic implications within pre-Heteropterodea Hemiptera (sl) and a proposal for new monophyletic suborders". The Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 71 (1): 31–60.
Larivière, Marie-Claude; Burckhardt, Daniel & Larochelle, André (2011). Peloridiidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha). Fauna of New Zealand, No. 67 (in English and Māori). Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand: Manaaki Whenua Press, Landcare Research.
ISBN978-0-478-34730-2.
Abstract
Kuechler, Stefan Martin; et al. (2013). "Diversity of bacterial endosymbionts and bacteria–host co‐evolution in Gondwanan relict moss bugs (Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha: Peloridiidae)". Environmental Microbiology. 15 (7): 2031–2042.
doi:
10.1111/1462-2920.12101.
PMID23452253.