Classification and Evolution of the Eumenine Wasp Genus Symmorphus Wesmael (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

The genus Symmorphus Wesmael is distributed throughout the Oriental, Palearctic, and Nearctic regions, as well as the northernmost Neotropical region, and appears to occupy a relatively isolated phylogenetic position within the Eumeninae. Females of Symmorphus , for those species in which nesting behavior is known, mass-provision cells in pre-existing cavities with chrysomelid, curculionid, or microlepidopterous larvae.Thirty-six species are recognized, including three new species and two new subspecies. Keys are provided for the identification of adult specimens, all species are described, and their geographical distributions mapped.Two subgenera, S . ( Parasymmorphus ) Cumming and Vecht and S . ( Symmorphus ) Wesmael, are recognized. Symmorphus ( Parasymmorphus ) includes S . parvilineatus (Cameron), S . momunganensis (Schulthess), and S . negrosensis Cumming and Vecht. Within S . ( Symmorphus ) three informal species groups are recognized, with the following included species and subspecies: (1) S . hoozanensis group — S . hoozanensis (Schulthess), S . alkimus alkimus Cumming and Vecht, S . alkimus dialeukus ssp.nov. (type-locality Sibolangit, N. Sumatra), S . ambotretus sp.nov. (type-locality Mt. Omei, Sichuan Province, China), and S . canlaonicus sp.nov. (type-locality Mt. Canlaon, Negros Oriental, Philippines); (2) S . declivis group — S . declivis Harttig; (3) S . murarius group — S . murarius (Linnaeus), S . foveolatus Gussakovskij, S . glasunowi Morawitz, S . sichuanensis Lee, S . crassicornis (Panzer), S . captivus (Smith), S . angustatus (Zetterstedt), S . albomarginatus albomarginatus (Saussure), S . albomarginatus midas ssp.nov. (type-locality Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas, USA), S . decens (Kostylev), S . violaceipennis Soika, S . mizuhonis Tsuneki, S . bifasciatus (Linnaeus), S . debilitatus (Saussure), S . cliens Soika, S . connexus (Curtis), S . lucens (Kostylev), S . sublaevis (Kostylev), S . canadensis (Saussure), S . projectus Bohart, S . tukvarensis (Meade-Waldo), S . nipteroides sp.nov. (type-locality N. Yourdou, India), S . fuscipes (Herrich-Schaeffer), S . apiciornatus (Cameron), S . aurantiopictus Soika, S . allobrogus (Saussure), S . cristatus (Saussure), S . gracilis (Brullé), and S . paralleliventris Soika.The following new synonymy is proposed: S . calciatii (Zavattari) = S . glasunowi Morawitz; S . nursei (Bingham), S . hospes (Nurse), and S . hospitans (Dalla Torre) = S . crassicornis (Panzer); S . hakutozanus Tsuneki and S . nansetsurei Tsuneki = S . angustatus