The Ibaliidae comprise three extant genera of fairly large wasps, with a total of 20 species, and is a sister group to the rest of the cynipoids except the small subfamily Austrocynipidae.

The following distinct features are diagnostic characters, based on research by Ronquist[1] and Liu and Nordlander.

A large portion of the pronotum is well developed, called the dorsal pronotal area, with scutellar processes.

Phylogenetic analyses have indicated the Ibaliidae have spread from the eastern Palearctic and northern Asian regions in the early Cretaceous.

[3] An insect-parasitic life mode is probably ancestral in the cynipoid families, and the Ibaliidae are placed next to Austrocynipidae, as a sister group to Liopteridae, Figitidae and Cynipidae.

[1] †Archaeibalia Eileenella H. confluens H. nishijimai H. divergens H. subtilis H. aureopilosa I. jakowlewi I. ornata I. anceps I. kalimantanica I. hunanica I. japonica I. mirabilis I. aprilina I. rufipes I. montana I. kirki I. arizonica I. rufficollis I. leucospoides