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 (Zetterstedt); S. walshianus (Saussure) and S. meridionalis Viereck = S. albomarginatus albomarginatus (Saussure); S. kurentzovi Kurzenko, S. iiyamai Tsuneki, S. shiroyamai Tsuneki, S. piceanus Tsuneki, and S. sassai Tsuneki = S. mizuhonis Tsuneki; S. sinuatus (Fabricius), S. sinuatus mutinensis (Baldini), S. sparsus Morawitz, S. sinuatissimus Richards, S. mutinensis auster Soika, and S. mutinensis yezoanus Tsuneki = S. bifasciatus (Linnaeus); S. ishikawai Soika = S. lucens (Kostylev); S. seoulensis Tsuneki = S. apiciornatus (Cameron); S. pumilus (Saussure) and S. trisulcatus Cameron = S. cristatus (Saussure); S. elegans libanicus Soika = S. gracilis (Brullé); and S. allobrogus (Saussure) is removed from synonymy with S. bifasciatus (Linnaeus). Odynerus latipennis Smith and Odynerus cilicius Cameron, previously considered to belong within Symmorphus, are excluded from the genus, and S. sounkionis Tsuneki is transferred as Ancistrocerus sounkionis (Tsuneki) comb.nov. Neotypes are designated for S. crassicornis (Panzer) and S. fuscipes (Herrich-Schaeffer), and lectotypes are designated for S. foveolatus Gussakovskij, S. glasunowi Morawitz, S. nursei (Bingham), S. laeviventris (Thomson), S. albomarginatus (Saussure), S. decens (Kostylev), S. sinuatus (Fabricius), S. sinuatus mutinensis (Baldini), S. debilitatus (Saussure), S. lucens (Kostylev), S. sublaevis (Kostylev), S. debilis (Saussure), S. apiciornatus (Cameron), S. philadelphiae (Saussure), and S. elegans (Wesmael).A cladistic analysis of Symmorphus, based on 26 characters, is presented, including a discussion of the relationships of the genus to the remainder of the Eumeninae. Hypotheses outlining the historical zoogeography of Symmorphus are presented in light of current paleogeographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions, by comparing these cladistic relationships with the chorological patterns observed within the genus and other Vespidae.