Megaspilidae
| Megaspilidae | |
|---|---|
| Mounted specimen of a male Dendrocerus sp. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota | 
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Arthropoda | 
| Class: | Insecta | 
| Order: | Hymenoptera | 
| Superfamily: | Ceraphronoidea | 
| Family: | Megaspilidae | 
The Megaspilidae are a small hymenopteran family with 13 genera in two subfamilies, and some 450 known species, with a great many species still undescribed. It is a poorly known group as a whole, though most are believed to be parasitoids (especially of sternorrhynchan Hemiptera), and a few hyperparasitoids. Many are found in the soil, and of these, a number are wingless.
The family is distinguished from the closely related Ceraphronidae by having a very large stigma in the wing, a relatively constricted metasomal petiole, and three grooves in the mesoscutum.
The largest genus within Megaspilidae is Dendrocerus. The second largest genus is Conostigmus.