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The Leucospidae (sometimes incorrectly spelled Leucospididae) are a specialized group of within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, that are of aculeata or . They are typically mimicry of bees or stinging wasps, often black with yellow, red, or white markings, sometimes metallic, with a robust mesosoma and very strong sculpturing. The hind arthropod leg are often greatly enlarged, with a row of teeth or serrations along the lower margin as in Chalcididae. The wing has a longitudinal fold. The female ovipositor is sometimes short, but if not, it is recurved and lies along the dorsal side of the metasoma, a unique feature. The males are also unusual, in the fusion of many of the metasomal segments to form a capsule-like "carapace".
Leucospidae are external parasitoids of larval hymenoptera, mostly solitary bees but some solitary wasps, and there is a case of a hyperparasitoid. The eggs are laid inside the nests of the host and upon hatching, they feed on the host larva. Usually only a single adult parasite emerges from a single host brood cell. Leucospis pinna, which parasitizes the Euglossini Eulaema meriana, is known to have multiple adults emerging from a single brood cell of the host. Leucopsis dorsigera is considered a hyperparasite, as it is a parasite of Xorides sp. which in turn is a parasitoid of a Longhorn beetle larva boring inside the stems of apricots. Leucospids are rarely encountered except in areas where their hosts are abundant; in the United States, the best-known species is Leucospis affinis, which parasitizes .
There are four genera with about 130 species which are known, of which nearly 44 are from the New World, mostly from the Neotropics. A fossil species Leucospis glaesaria has been described from Early Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic. The Leucospidae have traditionally been suggested as a sister group of the Chalcididae, based on morphology, but a 2011 phylogenetic analysis found that the Leucospidae were a Monophyly lineage but with uncertain placement within the Chalcidoidea and not closely related to the Chalcididae. The study found that the genus Oodera (Pteromalidae: Cleonyminae) was close to the Leucospidae, a result confirmed by a 2018 study.
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