Gasteruptiidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Evanioidea

Familia: Gasteruptiidae
Subfamiliae (2 + 2†): Gasteruptiinae - Hyptiogastrinae - †Baissinae - †Kutujellitinae
Overview of genera (6)

Gasteruption – Hyptiogaster – Plutofoenus – Pseudofoenus – Spinolafoenus – Trilobitofoenus
References

Jennings, J.T.; Austin, A.D. 2002: Systematics and distribution of world hyptiogastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). Invertebrate systematics, 16(5): 735–811. DOI: 10.1071/IT01048
Madl, M. 2013. A Catalogue of the Gasteruptiidae of the Ethiopian Region excluding Malagasy Subregion (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). Entomofauna 34(1): 1–28. full article (PDF). Reference page.
Žikić, V. et al. 2014: Review of the Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea) from the territory of the former Yugoslavia, with three newly reported species. Zootaxa 3793(5): 573–586. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3793.5.5Reference page.

The Gasteruptiidae are one of the more distinctive families among the apocritan wasps, with surprisingly little variation in appearance for a group that contains around 500 species in two subfamilies (Gasteruptiinae and Hyptiogastrinae) and with 6 genera worldwide.

Genera

This family include the following genera in two subfamilies:[1][2][3]

Gasteruptiinae Ashmead, 1900
Gasteruption Latreille, 1777
Plutofoenus Kieffer, 1911
Spinolafoenus Macedo, 2009
Trilobitofoenus Macedo, 2009
Hyptiogastrinae
Hyptiogaster Kieffer, 1903
Pseudofoenus Kieffer, 1902

Description

The propleura form an elongated "neck", the petiole is attached very high on the propodeum, and the hind tibiae are swollen and club-like. The females commonly have a long ovipositor (except in the genus Pseudofoenus), and lay eggs in the nests of solitary bees and wasps, where their larvae prey upon the host eggs, larvae and provisions. [4]

The absence of "teeth" on the crown of the head and the somewhat thickened antennae readily separate these wasps from those in the unrelated family Stephanidae, which also contains very slender wasps with long necks.
Distribution

The smaller of the two gasteruptiid subfamilies, Hyptiogastrinae, has a restricted Gondwanan distribution. Hyptiogaster with 10 species is endemic to Australia, whereas of the 80 species of Pseudofoenus, most are found in Australia, with 2 species in New Zealand, 2 species in South America, 5 species in New Guinea and New Britain, and 3 species in the south-west Pacific (New Caledonia, New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu).

Gasteruption is worldwide in its distribution, whereas Plutofoenus, Spinolafoenus and Trilobitofoenus are found in South America.
References

"Hymenoptera Online Database". Archived from the original on 2010-10-21. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2002, Systematics and distribution of world hyptiogastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). Invertebrate Systematics 16, 735–811.
Macedo, A.C.C. 2009, Generic classification for the Gasteruptiinae (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae) based on a cladistic analysis, with the description of two new Neotropical genera and the revalidation of Plutofoenus Kieffer. Zootaxa 2075, 1–32.
Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D., 2004. Biology and host relationships of aulacid and gasteruptiid wasps (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea): a review. pp. 187-215. In Rajmohana, K., Sudheer, K., Girish Kumar, P., & Santhosh, S. (Eds.) Perspectives on Biosystematics and Biodiversity. University of Calicut, Kerala, India.