Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) is extremely diverse with an estimated 500 000 species. We present the first phylogenetic analysis of the superfamily based on both morphological and molecular data. A web-based, systematics workbench mx was used to score 945 character states illustrated by 648 figures for 233 morphological characters for a total of 66 645 observations for 300 taxa. The matrix covers 22 chalcidoid families recognized herein and includes 268 genera within 78 of 83 subfamilies. Morphological data were analysed alone and in combination with molecular data from ribosomal 18S (2105 bp) and 28S D2-D5 expansion regions (1812 bp). Analyses were analysed alone and in combined datasets using implied-weights parsimony and likelihood. Proposed changes in higher classification resulting from the analyses include: (i) recognition of Eriaporidae, revised status; (ii) recognition of Cynipencyrtidae, revised status; (iii) recognition of Azotidae, revised status; (iv) inclusion of Sycophaginae in Agaonidae, revised status; (v) reclassification of Aphelinidae to include Aphelininae, Calesinae, Coccophaginae, Eretmocerinae and Eriaphytinae; (vi) inclusion of Cratominae and Panstenoninae within Pteromalinae (Pteromalidae), new synonymy; (vii) inclusion of Epichrysomallinae in Pteromalidae, revised status. At a higher level, Chalcidoidea was monophyletic, with Mymaridae the sister group of Rotoitidae plus the remaining Chalcidoidea. A eulophid lineage was recovered that included Aphelinidae, Azotidae, Eulophidae, Signiphoridae, Tetracampidae and Trichogrammatidae. Eucharitidae and Perilampidae were monophyletic if Eutrichosomatinae (Pteromalidae) was included, and Eupelmidae was monophyletic if Oodera (Pteromalidae: Cleonyminae) was included. Likelihood recovered a clade of Eupelmidae + (Tanaostigmatidae + (Cynipencyrtus + Encyrtidae). Support for other lineages and their impact on the classification of Chalcidoidea is discussed. Several life-history traits are mapped onto the new phylogeny.© The Willi Hennig Society 2013. Without question, Chalcidoidea is one of the most megadiverse groups of insects. Their morphological diversity is staggering (Fig. 1). They range in size from such veritable giants as females of Leptofoenus (Pteromalidae), which exceed 20 mm, to the minute and morphologically bizarre male of Dicopomorpha echmepterygis (Mymaridae), the smallest known specimen of which is 0.13 mm long. Males of D. echmepterygis have lost eyes, ocelli, mouthparts, antennal flagellum, wings, tarsi except for a highly modified arolium, and virtually any other feature that places them as parasitic wasps (Fig. 1a). Other bizarrities include male fig wasps, which can be reduced to turtle-like fighting machines that bear no resemblance to their corresponding females and are hardly recognizable as chalcidoids, or the grotesquely enlarged scutellum (Fig. 1h) of Galearia latreillei (Eucharitidae) and the dart-shaped ovipositor sheaths (Fig. 1j) of Cameronella (Pteromalidae). Convergent morphology is also rampant, and enlarged...

A phylogenetic study of the Eurytominae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) treating 178 taxa and based on 150 morphological characters is given. Several cladograms using the complete species sample, but obtained with different weightings, are presented. Local studies were also carried out to provide possible alternate topologies. The deep nodes of the trees were unstable and were never supported, but most of the superficial nodes were stable and robust. The results therefore provide support for a generic classification of the subfamily. The large genus Eurytoma -which includes about half of the described species of the subfamily -proved to be polyphyletic, and is redefined in a narrowed sense using putative synapomorphies. Bruchophagus and Prodecatoma were similarly redefined. The genera Philolema and Aximopsis are reconsidered and defined in a broader concept. A number of the species presently included in Eurytoma were transferred to these genera. Finally, 22 new generic synonymies are proposed and 33 species are transferred. The study also demonstrates that the Eurytomidae are polyphyletic. The results strongly support a sister-group relationship between the Heimbrinae and the Chalcididae. The Rileyinae consist of two groups of unrelated taxa. A redefinition of the subfamily in a more restricted sense is supported by our results. The remaining group, consisting of the traditional Rileyinae, is included in the subfamily Buresiinae. Considered in this way they comprise the genera Buresium and Macrorileya , the latter being a senior synonym of Archirileya . The Buresiinae appear as the sister group of the Eurytominae. We propose to restrict the family Eurytomidae to these two taxa. This sister-group relationship provides evidence to polarize the biological habits within Eurytominae. The common ancestor of Buresiinae is presumed to parasitize insects (mostly at the egg stage) living in grass stems.

A phylogeny of the Torymidae (Chalcidoidea) is estimated using 4734 nucleotides from five genes. Twelve outgroups and 235 ingroup taxa are used, representing about 70% of the recognized genera. Our analyses do not recover Torymidae as monophyletic and we recognize instead two families: Megastigmidae (stat. rev.) and Torymidae s.s. (stat. rev.). Within Torymidae s.s., we recognize six subfamilies and six tribes, including Chalcimerinae, Glyphomerinae and Microdontomerinae (subf. nov.), and two new tribes: Boucekinini and Propalachiini (trib. nov.). Seven unclassified genera (i.e. Cryptopristus, Echthrodape, Exopristoides, Exopristus, part of Glyphomerus, Thaumatorymus, Zaglyptonotus) are assigned to tribes within our new classification. Five genera are restored from synonymy-Ameromicrus and Didactyliocerus from under Torymoides (stat. rev.), Iridophaga and Iridophagoides from under Podagrionella (stat. rev.) and Nannocerus from under Torymus (stat. rev.)-and three genera are synonymized-Allotorymus under Torymus syn. nov., Ditropinotus under Eridontomerus syn. nov. and Pseuderimerus under Erimerus syn. nov. A Palaearctic or Eurasian origin for Torymidae is proposed. The ancestral area of Megastigmidae is indicated as the Australian region. The most probable ancestral life strategy for Torymidae s.s. is ectoparasitism on gall-forming Cynipidae. The life strategy and putative hosts of the common ancestor of Megastigmidae remain uncertain.