胡蜂亚科Vespinae（膜翅目：胡蜂科）是严重威胁人生命和健康的发达的社会性昆虫，以我国为多样性分布中心。但目前我国胡蜂亚科属内系统发育关系不清，部分种类分种标准模糊，鉴别困难，整个类群的多样性和区系不明。不仅影响了世界上对胡蜂的研究，同时也严重影响了我国胡蜂资源的综合利用及防控策略的制订。本项目组拟在目前已有的研究基础上，利用现代形态学相关技术手段，并通过研究本亚科相关模式标本，进一步厘清我国胡蜂亚科种类，对世界已知种类进行全面修订；建立世界胡蜂亚科物种信息数据库；探讨世界胡蜂亚科系统发育关系。该项目的开展将为解决胡蜂科系统发育奠定基础，为研究胡蜂科分布起源和演化历史提供重要依据，同时，对袭人胡蜂的防控、重要农林害虫的持续控制等工作，具有重要的指导意义。

Hornets and yellow-jackets, belonging to the subfamily Vespinae (Hymenoptera：Vespidae), have highly developed social colonies that may attack humans. The centre of the Vespinae diversity is in China. However, the taxonomy of this subfamily is far from satisfactory with some species and subspecies separated only by colour. Information on the distributions and biodiversity of the Chinese fauna is still rudimentary. And the phylogenetic relationships between the genera within the subfamily are also unclear. This group thus requires further taxonomic study. The main purpose of this project is to study the crucial morphological characters of all stages (including adults, reproductive systems, sperm, immature stages, etc.) of the Vespinae using modern research methods (scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and molecular genetic techniques, etc.) and find more key characters to separate sibling species, make a comprehensive revision of all known species globally by examining the type specimens, and produce a robust phylogeny of the subfamily by combining both morphological and molecular data. Additionally, biodiversity database of the world Vespinae will be updated, and the biogeographical distribution pattern for each species will be briefly discussed. This research will produce results of significance for the prevention and control of wasps potentially harmful to humans, biocontrol of agricultural pest invertebrates, and solving phylogenetic problems associated with the family Vespidae.