Elasmidae (Family)

Overview

The genus Elasmus is the only member of the subfamily Elasminae (formerly classified as a separate family, Elasmidae), and contains over 200 species worldwide. They are mostly parasitoids or hyperparasitoids of lepidopteran larvae, though several species are parasitoids of Polistes paper wasp larvae.

Taxonomy

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The Family Elasmidae is a member of the Superfamily Chalcidoidea. Here is the complete "parentage" of Elasmidae:

Domain: Eukaryota - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Animalia C. Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
  - Subkingdom: Bilateria (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
    - Branch: Protostomia Grobben, 1908 - protostomes
      - Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa A.M.A. Aguinaldo et al., 1997 ex T. Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - ecdysozoans
        Superphylum: Panarthropoda
        Phylum: Arthropoda Latreille, 1829 - Arthropods
        Subphylum: Mandibulata Snodgrass, 1938
        Infraphylum: Atelocerata
        Superclass: Panhexapoda
        Class: Insecta C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Insects
        Subclass: Dicondylia
        Infraclass: Pterygota - Winged Insects
        Superorder: Hymenopterida
        Order: Hymenoptera C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Ants, Bees, and Wasps
        Suborder: Apocrita - Ants, Bees
        Infraorder: Proctotrupomorpha
        Superfamily: Chalcidoidea Latreille, 1817
        Family: Elasmidae Förster, 1856

The Family Elasmidae is further organized into finer groupings including:

Genus (1): Elasmus
Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 227 species and subspecies in the Family Elasmidae.

Genera

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Elasmus

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At least 228 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Elasmus.

More info about the Genus Elasmus may be found here.

Sources

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