Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
=Platygasteridae, Scelionidae
Subfamilies Scelioninae, Teleasinae, and Telenominae used to be treated in a separate family, Scelionidae
Numbers
almost 500 spp. in ~55 genera in our area, arranged in 6 subfamilies
(1)Remarks
Most of the information on this guide page (preceded by "Scelionidae:") was taken from the old page for Scelionidae, including the following:
Members of this family are parasitic on the eggs of of a diverse group of insects. (At least seven different orders.) The mothering wasps often do stay with the parasitized eggs until they are emergent, mostly to keep other egg parasites away. They can be very common at the end of summer when egg numbers are at a peak. (Comment by Herschel Raney).
Some species are very host specific, others parasitize a wide range of hosts.
Many species are used as biological controls of pests such as: gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), Eurygaster integriceps, kissing bugs (Triatoma, Rhodnius), and horse flies (Tabanus)
Print References
Murphy N.P., D. Carey, L. Castro, M. Dowton & A.D. Austin (2007) Phylogeny of the platygastroid wasps (Hymenoptera) based on sequences from the 18S rRNA , 28S rRNA and CO1 genes: implications for classification and the evolution of host relationships. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 91: 653-669.
