Welcome to Afrotropical Pteromalidae

Pteromalidae is one of the largest and most diverse family in the superfamily Chalcidoidea, including over 3500 described species placed in almost 600 genera and 30 subfamilies. Their morphology and biology are extremly diverse, but most species develop as solitary or gregarious ectoparasitoids of larvae and pupae of holometabolous insects. The pteromalids are abundent in most terrestrial ecosystems, their diversity being linked with the diversity of their potential hosts.

The Afrotropical Pteromalidae are poorly known. This website aims to gather basic information for a future revision of the Afrotropical genera, including an illustrated key.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith