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The Peloridiidae or moss bugs are a family of Hemiptera, 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 Moss and Marchantiophyta, commonly in association with Nothofagus forests. They have become known as moss bugs for their habit of feeding on mosses. They mostly feed on moss , and also on wood-destroying fungi and lichens. Except for Peloridium hammoniorum, all Peloridiidae species are flightless. 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.
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. (See the Heteroptera and Prosorrhyncha pages for a discussion).
The oldest members of Coleorrhyncha are known from the 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.
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