Occipital carina present laterally, above mandibular base curved towards and (just) meeting hypostomal carina (Figs 20, 29), near level of middle of eye straight or nearly so, without transverse carina or crest; face without tubercles (Figs 18, 27); scapus, fore coxa and trochanter at most weakly compressed; epistomal suture without large depressions; labrum normal, without emargination ventrally; clypeus not impressed; mandible not abruptly widened basally (but frequently rather gradually widened), without lamella, at most with a fine carina baso-ventrally; medio-posterior depression of mesoscutum present (Fig. 24), but rarely absent (Fig. 15); scutellar sulcus wide to rather narrow; postpectal carina absent; sfirst subdiscal cell of fore wing at least partly closed by vein 3-CU1 postero-apically; vein cu-a of hind wing nearly always present (Figs 14, 23); (but Nearctic species may have both veins cu-a of hind wing and CU1b of fore wing absent); vein 3-SR of fore wing distinctly longer than vein 2-SR (Figs 14, 23); vein m-cu of hind wing usually absent or obsolescent, only distinct in type species; first tergite without dorsope (Figs 16, 25); and basal half of third tergite without sharp lateral crease, if sometimes weakly developed then second tergite smooth; length of second and third tergites combined less than 0.7 times length of metasoma behind first tergite; vein 2-SR of fore wing present (Figs 14, 23), rarely reduced; fifth and following tergites partly exposed; ovipositor sheath more or less setose basally (Fig. 31); length of fore wing usually less than 3 mm.

Parasitoids of mining Agromyzidae, Anthomyiidae, Lonchaeidae, Scathophagidae and Tephritidae.

This Holarctic and Oriental genus has been used mostly as a subgenus (e.g., Fischer 1972b, Chen and Weng 2005 and 21998) but Papp (2002) used it as a valid genus. The definition in these papers is different; its main character, the curvature of the occipital carina, is used here for the first time. The mainly plesiomorphic character states used by other authors result in a mixed group; the curved occipital carina seems to be the best apomorphic character state to separate this group from Opius Wesmael s.l.