Nachruf für Prof. Dr. Joachim Oehlke

Phylogenomic approaches have recently helped elucidate various insect relationships, but large-scale comprehensive analyses on relationships within sawflies and woodwasps are still lacking. Here, we infer the relationships and long-term biogeographic history of these hymenopteran groups using a large dataset of 354 UCE loci collected from 385 species that represent all major lineages. Early Hymenoptera started diversifying during the Early Triassic ∼249 Ma and spread all over the ancient supercontinent Pangaea. We recovered Xyeloidea as a monophyletic sister group to other Hymenoptera and Pamphilioidea as sister to Unicalcarida. Within the diverse family Tenthredinidae, our taxonomically and geographically expanded taxon sampling highlights the non-monophyly of several traditionally defined subfamilies. In addition, the recent removal of Athalia and related genera from the Tenthredinidae into the separate family Athaliidae is supported. The deep historical biogeography of the group is characterised by independent dispersals and re-colonisations between the northern (Laurasia) and southern (Gondwana) palaeocontinents. The breakup of these landmasses led to ancient vicariance in several Gondwanan lineages, while interchange across the Northern Hemisphere has continued until the Recent. The little-studied African sawfly fauna is likewise a diverse mixture of groups with varying routes of colonization. Our results reveal interesting parallels in the evolution and biogeography of early hymenopterans and other ancient insect groups.

Klaus Standfuss passed away in April 2024 at the age of 87. In his professional life, Professor Standfuss worked as a physician and university lecturer in Cologne and Dortmund. Even as an active doctor and especially as a pensioner with diverse scientific interests, he was involved for decades in the ecological reorganisation of his city garden in Dortmund and studied the insect fauna developing there. The transformation of a green wasteland into a botanically rich habitat for insects is regarded in Germany as a prime example of the creation of species-rich natural gardens in inner cities. Klaus Standfuss also became known for his contributions to the insect fauna of Germany and Greece, which he published from 1996 to 2021 together with his wife Lisa Standfuss and other specialists in various insect families. His list of entomological publications includes 42 articles, 31 of which deal with Hymenoptera, 10 with Diptera and one with bibliographical problems. Two species of Hymenoptera were named after the couple Klaus and Lisa Standfuss.

While working on an identification guide to the sawflies of Fennoscandia, we encountered numerous taxonomic problems, for some of which we present solutions. Dicrostema Benson, 1952 is a new synonym of Phymatoceropsis Rohwer, 1916, and not congeneric with Paracharactus MacGillivray, 1908. Two species occurring in Europe are transferred to Phymatoceropsis. Dolerus aericepsellus Heidemaa and Mutanen sp. nov. and Heptamelus viitasaarii Liston, Mutanen and Prous sp. nov. are described from Finland. Abia brevicornis Leach, 1817 nom. rev. is the valid name of Abia nitens auct. nec Linnaeus, and Abia nitens (Linnaeus, 1758) is the valid name for what has recently been called Abia sericea (Linnaeus, 1767). Tenthredo haemorrhoidalis Fabricius, 1781 is treated as an unplaced species of Hymenoptera, possibly Ichneumonoidea. Calameuta variabilis (Mocsáry, 1886) is the valid name of the species recently generally called C. haemorrhoidalis. Claremontia confusa (Konow, 1886) sp. rev. and Claremontia brevicornis (Brischke, 1883) are distinct species. Dolerus coracinus (Klug, 1818) is the valid name for D. anthracinus auct. Dolerus anthracinus (Klug, 1818) is a valid species similar to D. nitens Zaddach, 1859. Dolerus coruscans Konow, 1890 sp. rev. is a valid species. Dolerus junci (Stephens, 1835) is the valid name for Dolerus cothurnatus auct. Dolerus timidus (Klug, 1818) sp. rev. is distinguished from the similar D. pratensis (Linnaeus, 1758). A neotype is designated for Astatus punctatus Klug, 1803. Lectotypes are designated for 39 nominal species. 29 species group names are new junior synonyms. We present data on some species recently collected for the first time in Finland, including first records for the Palaearctic and West Palaearctic.

Four genera and 58 species of the web-spinning or leaf-rolling sawfly subfamily Pamphiliinae are recognized in the Russian Far East and Korea. Pamphilius belokobylskiji sp. nov. and Pamphilius graciloides sp. nov. are described from Primorskij Kraj (Russia) and Korea. Pamphilius zinovjevi Shinohara, 1988, is syn. nov. of Pamphilius ussuriensis Shinohara, 1988. Lectotypes are designated for Lyda hilaris Eversmann, 1847, Lyda kumamotonis Matsumura, 1912, Lyda sapporensis Matsumura, 1912, Pamphilius virescens Malaise, 1931, and Neurotoma sibirica Gussakovskij, 1935. Pamphilius aucupariae Vikberg, 1971, and Pamphilius hilaris (Eversmann, 1847) are newly recorded from Korea. Keys are given to separate the two tribes, four genera and 58 species. Additional collection records from Primorskij Kraj and Korea and photographs of all the species treated are given. The number of the specimens examined for each species, in total over 16000, is noted under the respective species. We undertook molecular analyses of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) for 597 specimens and of the nuclear gene sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (NaK) for 271 specimens. Based on the results, we assess the monophyly of each supraspecific taxon and each intrageneric species group or subgroup and the hypotheses about their relationships. The tribe Neurotomini with its single genus Neurotoma, the tribe Pamphiliini and the genus Onycholyda are considered monophyletic with 99100% UFBoot supports, whereas monophyly of the genus Pamphilius is not sufficiently supported by the COI results. The three available datasets, namely, morphology (Shinohara, 2002b), COI genes (present work) and NaK genes (present work), support three different hypotheses of relationships within the tribe Pamphiliini.