Superfamily Platygastroidea

Formerly treated in Proctotrupoidea

Scelionidae has been split from Platygastridae.

Seven extant families, three of which are found in North America:

Platygastridae

Scelionidae

Sparasionidae

0.45-4 mm(1)

Forewings with 2 or fewer cells enclosed by tubular veins, without a tubular vein (C absent) on basal part of anterior margin (a vein may occur on apical half of anterior margin); sometimes fore wing with no venation at all. Head without dark H-shaped mark. Toruli usually closer to each other than to eyes. Hind wing not stalked. Pronotum in lateral view usually extending posteriorly to tegula (most Chalcidoidea have the pronotum separated from the tegula laterally by a prepectus). Antennal bases inserted very close to mouth. Pronotum in dorsal view U-shaped. Metasomal segment 1 in dorsal view subrectangular anteriorly. Metasomal segment 2 or 3 sometimes elongated.

If wings reduced or absent, pronotum in lateral view extending to tegula; antennal bases inserted very close to mouth; metasoma with 6-8 visible terga; antennal scape at least 5 times as long as wide; body under 3 mm long; some with metasoma usually lens-shaped in cross section, wider than high, with sides usually sharply angulate; others have the antennae with 5 flagellomeres, the vertex separated from occiput by acute and carinate angle, and the eyes large, nearly touching posterior carinate angle of head (2).

A key to the families of Platygastroidea can be found in Chen et al. 2021 (below)

Widespread

Commonly found in moist areas.

Murphy N.P., Carey D., Castro L., Dowton M., Austin A.D. (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.

Chen, H., Lahey, Z., Talamas, E.J., Valerio, A.A., Popovici, O.A., Musetti, L., Klompen, H., Polaszek, A., Masner, L., Austin, A.D. and Johnson, N.F. (2021), An integrated phylogenetic reassessment of the parasitoid superfamily Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupomorpha) results in a revised familial classification. Syst Entomol, 46: 1088-1113. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12511