Montane habitats on isolated Pacific islands support Heteroptera biotas whose constituent taxa have often diverged markedly in terms of both morphology and ecological niche from their counterparts in continental settings. Prime examples of this pattern include predaceous seed bugs (Lygaeidae) in the alpine deserts of Hawaii; arboreal shore bugs (Saldidae) in the wet forests of Hawaii, the Marquesas and the Societies; terrestrial water measurers (Hydrometridae) in the moss forests of the Societies and Marquesas; and aquatic damsel bugs (Nabidae) in Hawaiian upland streams. In cases where such adaptations occur in multiple archipelagoes, available cladistic evidence indicates that these novel adaptations have been acquired convergently via independent phylogenetic lines, implying common selective factors underlying such "atypical" niche shifts, and correspondingly predictable morphological specializations.