Pteromalidae is a very large family of parasitic wasps, with some 3,450 described species in some 640 genera (the number used to be greater, but many species and genera have been reduced to synonymy in recent years). The subfamily-level divisions of the family are highly contentious and unstable, and there is no question that the family is completely artificial, composed of numerous distantly-related groups (polyphyletic). Accordingly, details of the life history range over nearly the entire range possible within the Chalcidoidea, though the majority are (as with most Chalcidoids) parasitoids of other insects. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and many are important as biological control agents.

In essence, a "Pteromalid" is any member of the Chalcidoidea that has 5-segmented tarsi and does not have the defining features of any of the remaining families with 5-segmented tarsi. There is no question but that this family will be divided into several families in the near future.

The subfamily Leptofoeninae contains the largest known members of the Chalcidoidea, some species reaching nearly 5 cm in length (including ovipositor). They also, like many of the smaller Pteromalids, are brilliantly metallic.

External links

• Universal Chalcidoidea Database
• ''Catolaccus grandis'' is an ectoparasitoid of the boll weevil
• http://ceris.purdue.edu/napis/pests/bw/news/parasite.txt
• http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/hym/chalcids/Pteromal.html

fr:Pteromalidae it:Pteromalidae

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