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

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the 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 parasitic. Females typi ...

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 othe ...

s of

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

n larvae, though several species are parasitoids of ''

Polistes ''Polistes'' is a cosmopolitan genus of paper wasps and the only genus in the tribe Polistini. Vernacular names for the genus include umbrella wasps, coined by Walter Ebeling in 1975 to distinguish it from other types of paper wasp, in refer ...

'' 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