diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 777eda324..1316f7b8f 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ Michael Droettboom
 Michael Seifert
 Michal Wajszczuk
 Mihai Capotă
+Mike Hoyle (hoylemd)
 Mike Lundy
 Miro Hrončok
 Nathaniel Waisbrot
diff --git a/changelog/4315.trivial.rst b/changelog/4315.trivial.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ee7266aa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/4315.trivial.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Use ``pkg_resources.parse_version`` instead of ``LooseVersion`` in minversion check.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
index 0c3ecdcce..26a0973ca 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ import shlex
 import sys
 import types
 import warnings
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 import py
 import six
+from pkg_resources import parse_version
 from pluggy import HookimplMarker
 from pluggy import HookspecMarker
 from pluggy import PluginManager
@@ -822,7 +822,7 @@ class Config(object):
 
         minver = self.inicfg.get("minversion", None)
         if minver:
-            if LooseVersion(minver) > LooseVersion(pytest.__version__):
+            if parse_version(minver) > parse_version(pytest.__version__):
                 raise pytest.UsageError(
                     "%s:%d: requires pytest-%s, actual pytest-%s'"
                     % (