Sawflies are the insects of the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay their eggs. The name is associated especially with the Tenthredinoidea, by far the largest superfamily in the suborder, with about 7,000 known species; in the entire suborder, there are 8,000 described species in more than 800 genera. Symphyta is paraphyletic, consisting of several basal groups within the order Hymenoptera, each one rooted inside the previous group, ending with the Apocrita which are not sawflies.
Xiphydriidae are a family of wood wasps that includes around 150 species. They are located all over the world including North and South America, Australia, Europe, and others. Xiphydriidae larvae are wood borers in dead trees or branches of a range of trees. They are characterized as having long and skinny necks with dome-shaped heads. The oldest fossils of the group are from the mid Cretaceous.
The Orussidae or the parasitic wood wasps represent a small family of sawflies ("Symphyta"). Currently, about 93 extant and four fossil species are known. They take a key position in phylogenetic analyses of Hymenoptera, because they form the sister taxon of the megadiverse apocritan wasps, and the common ancestor of Orussidae + Apocrita evolved parasitism for the first time in course of the evolution of the Hymenoptera. They are also the only sawflies with carnivorous larvae.
The Xyelidae are a comparatively species-poor family of sawflies, comprising about 80 extant species in five genera worldwide, and is the only family in the superfamily Xyeloidea. The fossil record of the family is extensive, comprising more than 120 species and including the oldest fossil Hymenoptera species dating back to the Triassic, between 245 and 208 million years ago. Xyelidae are to be regarded as living fossils since they represent one of the oldest lineages of insects and include still extant forms.
The Megalodontesidae are a small family of sawflies, containing a single living genus, Megalodontes, with some 40 species restricted to the temperate regions of Eurasia. Larvae of Megalodontesidae feed on herbaceous plants. They are distinguished from the closely related Pamphiliidae by their serrate or pectinate antennae.
Pamphiliidae is a small wasp family within Symphyta, containing some 200 species from the temperate regions of North America and Eurasia. The larvae feed on plants, using silk to build webs or tents, or to roll leaves into tubes in which they feed, thus earning them the common names leaf-rolling sawflies or web-spinning sawflies. Some species are gregarious and the larvae live in large groups. Fossils of Pamphiliidae have been dated to the Jurassic period.
The Tenthredinoidea are the dominant superfamily of sawflies within the Symphyta, containing some 8,400 species worldwide, primarily in the family Tenthredinidae. All known larvae are phytophagous, and a number are considered pests.
Cimbicidae is a family of sawflies in the order Hymenoptera. There are more than 20 genera and 200 described species in Cimbicidae. Larvae are solitary herbivores.
The Pergidae are a moderate-sized family of sawflies occurring in the Western Hemisphere and the Australasian Region. The Pergidae are, with almost 450 described species, the third-largest family of Symphyta after the Tenthredinidae and the Argidae. Morphologically, most pergids are typically sawfly-like, but the form of the antennae varies considerably in number of segments and from simple to serrate and pectinate or even bipectinate. Sexual dimorphism is common and reflected in differences in type of antennae, colour, and size. Included are some of the few known apterous sawflies, those of the genus Cladomacra occurring in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and a species with brachypterous females, Clarissa tasbates, in Tasmania.
Tenthredinidae is the largest family of sawflies, with well over 7,500 species worldwide, divided into 430 genera. Larvae are herbivores and typically feed on the foliage of trees and shrubs, with occasional exceptions that are leaf miners, stem borers, or gall makers. The larvae of externally feeding species resemble small caterpillars. As with all hymenopterans, common sawflies undergo complete metamorphosis.
Acantholyda is a genus of sawflies.
Nematinae is a subfamily of sawflies belonging to the family Tenthredinidae. It contains over 1250 described species in ~40 genera. Members of this subfamily feed on a wide range of plants and employ a wide range of feeding habits, both internally and externally, on their host plants.
Allantinae is a subfamily of sawflies in the family Tenthredinidae, and the largest subfamily of that family, with about 110 genera. The subfamily is considered to consist of five to six tribes, and are medium to large sawflies.
Megalodontes is a genus of sawflies within the Symphyta belonging to the family Megalodontesidae subfamily Megalodontesinae.
Neodiprion abietis, commonly known as the balsam fir sawfly, is a species of insect in the family Diprionidae. It is found in North America from Canada to northern Mexico and is phytophagous, feeding on the needles of coniferous trees.
Diprion similis is a species of sawfly in the family Diprionidae. It is native to central and northern Europe and Asia but was accidentally introduced into North America where it has become invasive. The larvae feed on the needles of pine trees, especially those of the white pine. In North America it is known as the introduced pine sawfly or the imported pine sawfly. It is also known as the white pine sawfly because of its preference for feeding on the white pine, but this name is confusing because another sawfly, Neodiprion pinetum, whose larvae also feed on this tree, is itself known as the "white pine sawfly".
Neodiprion pinetum is a species of sawfly in the family Diprionidae. It is commonly known as the white pine sawfly, a name sometimes also applied to Diprion similis, because the larvae of both species feed on the needles of the white pine.
Neodiprion lecontei is a species of sawfly in the family Diprionidae native to eastern North America, commonly known as the red-headed pine sawfly or Leconte's sawfly. The larvae feed on the foliage of many species of native and imported pines. This species was named after John Lawrence LeConte, an American entomologist of the 19th century.
Blennocampinae is a subfamily of common sawflies in the family Tenthredinidae. There are more than 100 genera and 600 described species in Blennocampinae.
Diprion is a genus of conifer sawflies in the family Diprionidae. There are at least 12 described species in Diprion.
