They are often brilliantly metallic (especially blue or green), with robust mesosomae and a small, triangular metasomae.

The prothorax is typically very broad and disc-like, and the labrum is multidigitate, a feature shared with the Eucharitidae.

A feature shared by the Eucharitidae, Perilampidae, Chrysolampidae, and Eutrichosomatidae is that the first-instar larvae (called "planidia") are responsible for gaining access to the host, rather than the egg-laying females.

Those species which are hyperparasitoids burrow into a secondary host's body and seek out endoparasitoid larvae, such as tachinid flies or ichneumonoid wasps, and attack them.

These genera belong to the family Perilampidae: Data sources: i = ITIS,[1] c = Catalogue of Life,[2] g = GBIF,[3] b = Bugguide.net[4]