The family Pteromalidae is interestingly speciose with diverse forms. 'Pteromalini' is the second earliest available group name in Chalcidoidea, proposed by Dalman in 1820 (Boucek, 1988). Recent Indian check list includes 213 species under 93 genera (Sureshan, 2012) updated to 333 species under 121 genera (Gupta, 2016). An account of world Pteromalid fauna is given in Universal Chalcidoidea Database.
Majority of the species are egg, larval or pupal parasitoids attacking many orders across Insecta. Larvae of some species develop as predators on eggs of coccids or of spiders (Arachnida). Some species are phytophagous, developing in seeds or as inquilines in galls caused by other insects. They can be categorized into many groups based on biology: ectoparasitoids and endoparasitoids, koinobionts and idiobionts, primary or secondary parasitoids, solitary or gregarious species.
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