The larvae are elongate and worm-like, with short legs but often with hard strong cuticle.
The feelers are elongate and conspicuous.
The requirements of an elongate body moving through the resistant medium of water are met by the evolution of similar entrant and exit curves, and the bodies of most swiftly moving aquatic animals evolve into forms resembling the hulls of modern sailing yachts (Bashford Dean).
The tenth abdominal segment carries a pair of jointed cerci which are often elongate, and the feelers are always long, while the jaws are usually feeble and membranous, though the typical parts of a mandibulate mouth are present - mandibles, maxillae with inner and outer lobes and palps, and second maxillae (labium) whose lacinae are not fused to form a ligula.
The Capsidae are a large family of rather soft-skinned bugs mostly elongate in form with the two basal segments of the feelers stouter than the two terminal.
