Etymology pleos, many, and pelte, shield, in reference to the peltate scales covering immature sori

Description Rhizome: creeping, branching, scales concolored to bicolored, lanceolate to ovate-acuminate, not clathrate to strongly clathrate.
Frond: evergreen, monomorphic.
Stipe: jointed at base, green to dark brown or black, flattened to terete, often grooved below and winged above, scaly or not, vascular bundles: 3.
Blade: pinnatifid, broadly ovate to deltate, leathery.
segments linear to oblong, margins entire to serrate, veins free or netted.
Sori: circular to oval, discrete, borne at tips of single veins, in 1-3 rows on either side of midrib, often confined to distal region of leaf, indusium: absent, sporangia: transparent or yellowish.

Distinctive Characteristics pinnatifid, leathery blade, long-creeping rhizome, fronds jointed to the rhizome, and young sori covered by peltate scales. Epiphytic, sometimes on rocks, rarely terrestrial, mostly tropical.