The Plokiophilidae or web-lovers are a small group of insects belonging to the true bugs (Heteroptera). Nine genera (one fossil, from Baltic amber) and 20 species are currently known. [1]
Morphology
Plokiophilidae are small (1.2-3.0 mm length) and vaguely similar to Anthocoridae.[1]
The genera Plokiophila, Plokiophiloides, Lipokophila and Embiophila are known to copulate through traumatic insemination.[2]
Distribution
Plokiophilidae are mostly documented from the New World tropics and tropical Africa. The genera Heissophila and the species Paraplokiophiloides schwendingeri have been described from Thailand. Monteithophila queenslandana, described in 2015, is the first species known from Australia, while Monteithophila fijiensis has been found in Fiji.[2]
Palaeobiology
The first fossil plokiophilid species, Pavlostysia wunderlichi, was identified in 2006 and then described in 2008 from fossils in EoceneBaltic amber; a Cretaceous fossil has also been identified.[3]
^ abcSchuh, Randall; Štys, Pavel; Cassis, Gerasimos; Lehnert, Margaret; Swanson, Dustin; Bruce, Terri (2015). "New Genera and Species of Plokiophilidae from Australia, Fiji, and Southeast Asia, with a Revised Classification of the Family (Insecta: Heteroptera: Cimicoidea)". American Museum Novitates (3825): 1–24. doi:10.1206/3825.1.
