The first complete World Catalog of sawflies (Hymenoptera, suborder Symphyta) for over 100 years is presented. It contains references to the original descriptions and provides brief distributional data for 803 genera, 8353 species (123 with two or more subspecies) and 161 subspecies in addition to the nominal subspecies. 15245 proposed names are treated, including replacement names, infrasubspecific names and nomina nuda, of which only 22 could not be checked in the original publications. Current taxonomic placement of genera and species and occurrence in zoogeographic regions are indicated. The list of names contains 31245 name combinations, variant spellings and family-group names. The authors attempted to consult all publications with taxonomic content referring to Symphyta that have appeared up to 31.12.2009. The 2960 cited references include all those that are known to contain original descriptions of taxa. Short biographical data and portraits of 168 symphytologists as well as images of representatives of extant sawfly taxa are included.

Die technische und inhaltliche Entwicklung des Elektronischen Weltkataloges der Pflanzenwespen (ECatSym) wird kurz dargestellt. - Derzeit (April 2005) sind ca. 8.200 valide Artgruppennamen und ca. 850 valide Gattungsgruppennamen enthalten, was einer Vollständigkeit von deutlich über 90% entspricht. Neben taxonomisch-nomenklatorischen Informationen umfasst die Datenbank umfangreiche Hinweise auf Futterpflanzen, die Verbreitung der Taxa sowie Literaturquellen.

In most plants and animals, a consistent relationship exists between the DNA content of a cell and its metabolic activity. The male-haploid sex determination of Hymenoptera and other arthropods may therefore impose a particular selective pressure upon males, which must evolve adaptations to cope with a genomic DNA reduced by half compared with that of females. Here, we show that a nuclear DNA content similar to that of females is restored in muscles of males in all hymenopteran lineages tested except the most basal one (Xyelidae). This doubling of DNA content in males does not occur in other haplodiploid insects, such as thrips (Thysanoptera) and whiteflies (Sternorrhyncha). These results indicate that this adaptation probably occurred early in hymenopteran history, possibly because males acquired strong flying and dispersal abilities.

Recent phylogenetic studies on Nematinae based on DNA sequences have shown extensive incongruencies with current nomenclature of genus-group taxa. Here, we expand previous DNA sequence datasets based on three genes (CoI, Cytb, and EF-1α), to include a fourth (NaK) and more genera. The analyses largely confirm the previous findings, particularly the existence of two well-supported large clades, Euura and Pristiphora, together comprising more than 75% of the species of Nematinae. Basal relationships within these two clades remain poorly resolved, mirroring the difficulties in delimiting genera based on morphology. In addition, a moderately supported small clade, Nematus, is found. The relationships between the Euura, Pristiphora, and Nematus clades are uncertain. Therefore, to stabilize the nomenclature we treat these clades as genera. This taxonomic treatment results in numerous new combinations of species names. The following synonymies are

The 'Symphyta' is a paraphyletic assemblage at the base of the order Hymenoptera, comprising 14 families and about 8750 species. All have phytophagous larvae, except for the Orussidae, which are parasitoids. This study presents and evaluates the results of DNA barcoding of approximately 5360 specimens of 'Symphyta', mainly adults, and 4362 sequences covering 1037 species were deemed of suitable quality for inclusion in the analysis. All extant families are represented, except for the Anaxyelidae. The majority of species and specimens are from Europe, but approximately 38% of the species and 13% of the specimens are of non-European origin. The utility of barcoding for species identification and taxonomy of 'Symphyta' is discussed on the basis of examples from each of the included families. A significant level of cryptic species diversity was apparent in many groups. Other attractive applications include the identification of immature stages without the need to rear them, community analyses based on metabarcoding of bulk samples and association of the sexes of adults.