The aim of this contribution is a compilation of the present-day status of carabid taxonomy and systematics with a special focus on the Palaearctic. We give a short review on morphology-based alpha taxonomy (MORAT), morphometry, karyotypes, and molecular systematics. We believe that MORAT has to be subdivided in two periods, a classical and a modern one. The latter is mainly characterised by the excessive use of genital characters for classifi cation and ranking of taxa. Important molecular marker systems for carabid taxonomy and systematics are allozymes, mitochondrial DNA sequences, microsatellite
DNA and nuclear DNA sequences. We discuss the use of molecular methods to
solve taxonomic problems at the species level and plead for a combination of molecular techniques, morphometrics and morphology-based taxonomy. Following challenges of present-day taxonomy and systematics are discussed: (1) stability of nomenclature, (2) tremendous amount of undescribed taxa, even from the Palaearctic, (3) the role of different aedeagus shapes to delimit species, and (4) incongruence of the results from MORAT, morphometrics, and molecular techniques.