Platygastroidea

{{Short description|Superfamily of wasps}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Platygastroidea

| image = Platygastrid (Leptacis spp.) (9687661511).jpg

| image_caption = A platygastrid wasp (Leptacis sp.)

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Barremian|Present}}

| taxon = Platygastroidea

| authority =

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision = * Geoscelionidae

• Janzenellidae
• Neuroscelionidae
• Nixoniidae
• Platygastridae
• †Proterosceliopsidae
• Scelionidae
• Sparasionidae

}}

The Hymenopteran superfamily of parasitoid wasps, Platygastroidea, has often been treated as a lineage within the superfamily Proctotrupoidea, but most classifications since 1977 have recognized it as an independent group within the Proctotrupomorpha. It is presently has some 4000 described species.Talamas EJ, Johnson NF, Shih C, Ren D (2019) Proterosceliopsidae: A new family of Platygastroidea from Cretaceous amber. In: Talamas E (Eds) Advances in the Systematics of Platygastroidea II. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 73: 3-38. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.73.32256 They are exclusively parasitic in nature.

The family Scelionidae was briefly considered to be a subfamily of the Platygastridae,[http://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3703.1.12 Aguiar et al. 2013]{{Cite journal

| last1 = Sharkey | first1 = M.J.

| date = 2007

| title = Phylogeny and Classification of Hymenoptera

| url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279674220

| journal = Zootaxa

| volume = 309

| pages = 13–48

}} though subsequent analyses have reversed this decision. Chen et al (2021) recognizes eight families, including five new extant families (Geoscelionidae, Janzenellidae, Neuroscelionidae, Nixoniidae, and Sparasionidae) and one extinct family †Proterosceliopsidae, known from fossils found in Cretaceous amber. Members of the group are known from the Early Cretaceous to present.{{Cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Norman F.|last2=Musetti|first2=Luciana|last3=Masner|first3=Lubomír|date=2008|title=The Cretaceous Scelionid Genus Proteroscelio Brues (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea)|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2008)3603[1:tcsgpb]2.0.co;2|journal=American Museum Novitates|issue=3603|pages=1|doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2008)3603[1:tcsgpb]2.0.co;2|s2cid=67766290 |issn=0003-0082}} The ancestral hosts of the group are orthopterans, with various lineages switching hosts to other insects.{{Cite journal|last1=Chen|first1=Huayan|last2=Lahey|first2=Zachary|last3=Talamas|first3=Elijah J.|last4=Valerio|first4=Alejandro A.|last5=Popovici|first5=Ovidiu A.|last6=Musetti|first6=Luciana|last7=Klompen|first7=Hans|last8=Polaszek|first8=Andrew|last9=Masner|first9=Lubomír|last10=Austin|first10=Andrew D.|last11=Johnson|first11=Norman F.|date=2021|title=An integrated phylogenetic reassessment of the parasitoid superfamily Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupomorpha) results in a revised familial classification|journal=Systematic Entomology|language=en|volume=46|issue=4|pages=1088–1113|doi=10.1111/syen.12511|issn=1365-3113|doi-access=free}}

File:Trissolcus on Chinavia eggs.jpg (family Scelionidae) on Chinavia eggs]]