Classification

History

Chalcidoidea (chalcid wasps) comprise one of the most diverse, species rich and ecologically significant groups of arthropods.  With more than 27.000 described and an estimated number of 500.000 undescribed species, they have been lately labeled as potential future "champions" of biodiversity, that could even contribute to order Hymenoptera dethroning the current champions, Coleoptera.  

During the last decades, there have been various endeavors aiming to address the evolutionary history and family delimitation within Chalcidoidea. Recently, a great number of chalcid wasp specialists, museum curators and other colleagues joined forces, trying to clarify the precise position of subfamilies previously assigned to Pteromalidae. Results speak for themselves, since the number of chalcid wasp families has been doubled (50 families out of 27 previously known). Moreover, some more subfamilies and genera were not assigned to any valid family, and remain unplaced (incertae sedis), and their precise placement will hopefully be resolved. So who knows? Perhaps 50 is not the final number yet!  

(AFR=Afrotropic region; AUS=Australasian; IND=Indomalayan; NEA=Nearctic; NEO=Neotropic; PAL=Palearctic )