The Pamphilioidea are a small superfamily within the

Symphyta Sawflies are wasp-like insects that are in 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 ...

(the sawflies), containing some 250 living species restricted to the temperate regions of

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. These

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

ns share the distinctive feature of a very large, almost prognathous head, which is widest ventrally. The superfamily contains two extant families. The Pamphiliidae are the leaf-rolling or web-spinning sawflies such as '' Acantholyda'', '' Neurotoma'', and '' Pamphilius'' whose larvae eat plants such as

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

s; the adults have simple filiform antennae. The Megalodontesidae include genera such as '' Megalodontes'' and several fossil groups. Their larvae eat herbaceous plants, while the adults have serrate or pectinate antennae.

References

Bibliography

* , in Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013) * Rasnitsyn, Alexandr P.; Zhang, Haichun & Wang, Bo (2006): Bizarre fossil insects: web-spinning sawflies of the genus ''Ferganolyda'' (Vespida, Pamphilioidea) from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. ''

Palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ...

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* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q19896587 Sawflies Hymenoptera superfamilies