Spathiopterygidae is an extinct

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of small parasitic

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s, known from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

(

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

) of

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pa ...

and Northern Gondwana. They are suggested to be members of

Diaprioidea Diaprioidea is a hymenopteran superfamily containing five extant families; in the past these families were included in the superfamily Proctotrupoidea. Families *Austroniidae has a single genus endemic to temperate forests of south-east Australi ...

, in part due to their similarly reduced

wing venation Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insect flight, insects to fly. They are found on the second and third Thorax (insect anatomy), thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often ...

. Some members of the group reduced or lost the hindwings entirely.

Genera

* †'' Myamaropsis'' Engel & Ortega-Blanco ''in'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco, Soriano, Grimaldi & Martinez-Delclos, 2013 **''M. baabdaensis'' Krogmann et al. 2016

Lebanese amber Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and its surroundings. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropic ...

**''M. turolensis'' Engel & Ortega-Blanco in Engel, Ortega-Blanco, Soriano, Grimaldi & Martinez-Delclos, 2013

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

, San Just amber, Escucha Formation ( Spanish amber) * †'' Spathiopteryx'' Engel & Ortega-Blanco ''in'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco, Soriano, Grimaldi & Martinez-Delclos, 2013 **''S. alavarommopsis'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco & Grimaldi ''in'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco, Soriano, Grimaldi & Martinez-Delclos, 2013 Albian, Alava amber, Escucha Formation ( Spanish amber) **''S. soosi'' Szabó, Brazidec & Perrichot, 2022

, Ajka Coal Formation, Hungary * †'' Spathopria'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco & Grimaldi ''in'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco, Soriano, Grimaldi & Martinez-Delclos, 2013 **''S. sayrevillensis'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco & Grimaldi ''in'' Engel, Ortega-Blanco, Soriano, Grimaldi & Martinez-Delclos, 2013

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

New Jersey amber New Jersey Amber, sometimes called Raritan amber, is amber found in the Raritan Formation, Raritan and Magothy Formations of the Mid-Atlantic states, Central Atlantic (Eastern) coast of the United States. It is dated to the Late Cretaceous, Turoni ...

* †'' Diaspathion'' Engel and Huang, 2015 **''D. ortegai'' Engel and Huang, 2015

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

* †'' Diameneura'' Santer and Álvarez-Parra, 2022 **''D. marveni'' Santer and Álvarez-Parra, 2022 late

, Spanish amber

References

†Spathiopterygidae Taxa named by Michael S. Engel {{Apocrita-stub