right|thumb|226px|Female Elisabethiella comptoni
right|thumb|226px|Male Elisabethiella comptoni
The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps (Agaoninae, Kradibiinae, and Tetrapusiinae) are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. Extinct forms from the Eocene and Miocene are nearly identical to modern forms, suggesting that the niche has been stable over geologic time.
Taxonomy
The family has changed several times since its taxonomic appearance after the work of Francis Walker in 1846 described from the wasp genus Agaon.
Previously the subfamilies Epichrysomallinae, Otitesellinae, Sycoecinae, Sycoryctinae, Sycophaginae, and Agaoninae were the subdivisions of the family. Recent works building strong molecular phylogenies with an extended sampling size have changed the composition of Agaonidae. The paraphyletic groups have been excluded; Epichrysomallinae was raised to family status (Epichrysomallidae), whereas Otitesellinae, Sycoecinae, Sycophaginae, and Sycoryctinae were transferred to Pteromalidae. New subfamilies have been instated (Kradibiinae and Tetrapusiinae).
Subfamilies and genera
Agaoninae
- Agaon
- Alfonsiella
- Allotriozoon
- Blastophaga
- Blastophaga psenes (syn. Cynips psenes )
- Courtella
- Deilagaon
- Dolichoris
- Elisabethiella
- Eupristina
- Eupristina verticillata
- Nigeriella
- Paragaon
- Pegoscapus
- Platyscapa
- Pleistodontes
- Waterstoniella
- Wiebesia
Kradibiinae
- Ceratosolen
- Kradibia (syn. Liporrhopalum )
Tetrapusiinae
- Tetrapus
Extinct genera
- †Archaeagaon Insect Limestone, United Kingdom, Eocene (Priabonian)
- †Archaeagaon minutum (Donisthorpe)