A phylogenetic study of the Eurytominae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) treating 178 taxa and based on 150 morphological characters is given. Several cladograms using the complete species sample, but obtained with different weightings, are presented. Local studies were also carried out to provide possible alternate topologies. The deep nodes of the trees were unstable and were never supported, but most of the superficial nodes were stable and robust. The results therefore provide support for a generic classification of the subfamily. The large genus Eurytoma – which includes about half of the described species of the subfamily – proved to be polyphyletic, and is redefined in a narrowed sense using putative synapomorphies. Bruchophagus and Prodecatoma were similarly redefined. The genera Philolema and Aximopsis are reconsidered and defined in a broader concept. A number of the species presently included in Eurytoma were transferred to these genera. Finally, 22 new generic synonymies are proposed and 33 species are transferred. The study also demonstrates that the Eurytomidae are polyphyletic. The results strongly support a sister-group relationship between the Heimbrinae and the Chalcididae. The Rileyinae consist of two groups of unrelated taxa. A redefinition of the subfamily in a more restricted sense is supported by our results. The remaining group, consisting of the traditional Rileyinae, is included in the subfamily Buresiinae. Considered in this way they comprise the genera Buresium and Macrorileya , the latter being a senior synonym of Archirileya . The Buresiinae appear as the sister group of the Eurytominae. We propose to restrict the family Eurytomidae to these two taxa. This sister-group relationship provides evidence to polarize the biological habits within Eurytominae. The common ancestor of Buresiinae is presumed to parasitize insects (mostly at the egg stage) living in grass stems