Overview
This endemic Australian family of small (4- 6 mm) wasps is only known from wet forest habitats of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. There are only three known species in one genus, Austronia, which is characterised by having well-developed fore wing venation but lacking a closed median cell, a petiolate and laterally compressed metasoma, and a deeply incised hypopygium (last visible sternum of the abdomen) in females.
The biology of austroniids is unknown, and their phylogenetic relationships with other families is unclear. They are very rarely collected and nothing is known of their biology.
Further information about the Austroniidae can be found in Masner 1993, Naumann & Masner 1985 and Riek 1955.