Platygastridae

Platygastridae Temporal range: Cenomanian–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Platygaster pupae inside gall
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Superfamily:	Platygastroidea
Family:	Platygastridae Haliday, 1833
Subfamilies
Platygastrinae Sceliotrachelinae

The hymenopteran family Platygastridae (sometimes incorrectly spelled Platygasteridae) is a large group (over 4000 species) of exclusively parasitoid wasps, mostly very small (1–2 mm), black, and shining, with geniculate (elbowed) antennae that have an eight-segmented flagellum. The wings sometimes lack venation, though they may have slight fringes of setae.

The traditional subfamilies are the Platygastrinae and the Sceliotrachelinae. The former subfamily includes some 40 genera, all of which are koinobionts on cecidomyiid flies; the wasp oviposits in the host's egg or early instar larva, and the wasp larva completes development when the host reaches the prepupal or pupal stage. The latter subfamily is much smaller, including some 20 genera, and they typically have the rudiments of a vein in the forewings. They are generally idiobionts, attacking the eggs of either beetles or Hemiptera.

Platygastridae is one of seven extant families in the superfamily Platygastroidea. For a brief period of time, Scelionidae was considered a subfamily of Platygastridae, but the classification has been revised based on molecular and morphological evidence.^[1]