The
Hymenoptera superfamily
Platygastroidea (sometimes incorrectly spelled Platygasteroidea) has, in the past, often been treated as a lineage within the superfamily
Proctotrupoidea, but most classifications since 1977 have recognized it as an independent group, composed of two families, the
Platygastridae and the
Scelionidae, with a combined diversity of some 4000 described species. The two groups are unified by a number of features, the most important of which are shared unique features
synapomorphies of the
ovipositor and details of the female
antenna. They are exclusively parasitic in nature. See families for details.