The Ceraphronidae are a small hymenopteran family with 14 genera and some 360 known species, though a great many species are still undescribed. It is a poorly known group as a whole, though most are believed to be parasitoids (especially of flies), and a few hyperparasitoids. Many are found in the soil, and of these, a number are wingless. The family is distinguished from the closely related Megaspilidae by having a very small stigma in the wing, a very broad metasomal petiole, and a single median groove in the mesoscutum. The taxon was erected by Alexander Henry Haliday in 1833.