The genus ''Elasmus'' is the only member of the

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

n subfamily Elasminae (formerly classified as a separate family, Elasmidae), and contains over 200 species worldwide. They are mostly

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

s or

hyperparasitoid A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two o ...

s of

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

n larvae, though several species are parasitoids of ''

Polistes Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus ''Polistes'' (the only genus in the tribe Polistini) are the most familiar of the polistine wasps, and are the most common type of paper wasp in North America. Walter Ebeling coined the vernacular name "umbrella ...

'' paper wasp larvae. Some authorities now place ''Elasmus'' in the subfamily

Eulophinae Eulophinae is a subfamily of wasps in the family Eulophidae which includes over 90 genera. Genera The genera included in Eulophinae are: *'' Alibertia'' Risbec, 1951 *'' Alophomorphella'' Girault, 1913 *'' Alophomyia'' Ashmead, 1904 *'' Al ...

References

Eulophidae Hymenoptera genera {{Eulophidae-stub