Phylloxeridae is a small family of plant-parasitic hemipterans closely related to aphids with only 75 described species.

Phylloxerans are aphid-like insects that are parasitic hemipterans on deciduous trees and perennial fruit crops.

In outline, a female fundatrix hatches from an overwintering egg on the primary host which is usually a woody plant before bud burst stimulating a gall to form on the young leaves.

In fact, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (grape phylloxera) is considered as the most economically important insect pest of commercial grapevines Vitis worldwide.

Besides, there is a high polymorphism in the family Phylloxeridae making it at times difficult to identify its members.

But there is a lot of controversy when it comes to its position and phylogeny within this lineage, especially in regard to its relatives namely the adelgids (Adelgidae) and aphids (Aphididae).

In fact, bionomical similarity such as the oviparous parthenogenetic females observed in these two groups and morphological characters (e.g. reduction of forewing venation, reduction of antennal segments) have been used in the study of their phylogeny, suggesting that they are closely related and leading to their placing as sister groups in Phylloxeroidea.

However, more recent studies using both morphological and molecular data to discuss the phylogeny and evolutionary history within Sternorrhyncha suggest that representatives of Adelgidae, Aphididae and Phylloxeridae have evolved independently and should not be combined in superfamilies.