For added excitement while looking for bee-flies, check your local daffodil patches for the Daffodil Dung-fly, a spiny-legged fly that is in the dung-fly family but has nothing to do with 💩
I read/discussed much of Stanislav Gorbs work in my #InsideOutofFlies book when it came to flies walking on the ceiling - sticking to the ceiling is good but doing so with small amount of force to enable you to leave again is something else…
#Verrall2026 @royentsoc.bsky.social
The rather amazing Prof Stanislav Gorb is giving the #Verrall2026 lecture -I’ve been obsessed with his work for years
Structures help taxonomists name spp/understand relationships BUT the shapes/structures help the animal stick/breath/swim etc, & there is a huge diversity
@royentsoc.bsky.social
Sorry I am a daily Quiz question in the @thetimes.com - not a crossword but even still, tres excited!!
If you write in very small letters it might just.....
I’m a @thetimes.com crossword clue!
Now you must all buy the book and learn about these amazing insects 🪰😎🤓
@dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social
Ohhh how am I going to sleep now!!!
UK map showing overall distribution of Dark-edged Bee-fly (pale grey dots) and records so far for 2026 (black dots)
A very freshly emerged male Dark-edged Bee-fly, photo by Allan Burrows in Hertfordshire
Several more bee-flies seen today - hurray 😍 So far we have records for Surrey, Beds, Bucks, Kent, Herts, Middlesex and Guernsey. Where will they appear next? Please enjoy looking out for them and send in your sightings for #BeeFlyWatch - 📸 of the Herts bee-fly by @allanburrows.bsky.social
I too initially thought that the students picking out the other orders had missed some Hymenoptera - they are a similar size
New family of flies for me - Megamerinidae
This is Megamerina dolium - the sole species found in the British isles from this family 😎
From the @opwallscience.bsky.social @kneppwilding.bsky.social malaise samples
I think only a few records from Sussex so I’m happy - check out their leg spines
Aesops Fables and why we have fables…
Female chironomid but that’s it’s from me
APPLY NOW folks.
An amazing experience to learn more about the taxonomy of flies, undertake fieldwork in a tropical forest, and chat ecologies with experts in the evenings.
#perfect
forms.gle/ggaCi1my5zqj...
Todays marvellous specimens...FLEAS FROM THE FUTURE!
Although collected over 50 years ago, it appears that they were identified in 2060!
(the perils of a comma in a slightly odd place..)
@nhm-london.bsky.social
a pair of mating Nymphomyia walkeri adults. These tiny little flies would have feathery wings when they first emerge, but lose their wings when they re-enter the water to mate.
A larva of Nymphomyia walkeri from Newfoundland. This is a tiny little white worm-like larva with a shiny head and little prolegs all along the abdomen.
Dorsal view of a Blepharicera tenuipes larva from Labrador, Canada. The larvae is a pale tan in colour, with a darker mark on its head. Each segment is expanded out on each side, with a proleg on each side.
Ventral view of a Blepharicera tenuipes larva from Labrador, Canada. The larvae is a pale tan in colour, and each segment is expanded, with a dark, circular sucker in the centre to help the larva hold on to rocks in fast water. Little finger-like gills can also be seen on each segment.
Quite a treat to encounter some cute little Diptera in vials inadvertently included amongst my Newfoundland and Labrador mayfly vials: these are Nymphomyiids and blepharicerids.
Excellent
Gorgeous
HOLY SMOKES. Tagging @flygirlnhm.bsky.social, because HOLY SMOKES.
Hola. Not halters but calypters.
Not really sure but many flies that have parasitoid larvae have large calypters so maybe it helps with controlling their aim when shooting out their eggs..
One week left to apply for this year's Fly School, happening in July in Costa Rica! Fly School happens every other year, so the next opportunity won't be until 2028.
Application and more info at dipterists.org/fly_school.h...
The deadline for the BEST COURSE is coming up - please do apply and join us in the jungle
This course is amazing - flies, Costa Rica, more flies, excellent tutors, yet more flies, great experience and EVEN MORE FLIES
I’ve been a supporter of @wwf.org.uk for over 40 years & I think it’s the first time I’ve seen flies in their magazine!
Hoverflies (& 100000s more spp) are not just excellent pollinators as adults, as the larvae are either recyclers of organic waste or predators of your garden pests 🤓🪰
Ok will take some more images - just for you xx
Had the pleasure of listening to Prof Baroness Kathy Willis, CBE @ox.ac.uk at @kneppwilding.bsky.social last night talking #GoodNature - nature & health
NATURE is GREAT for health (but we all know that 😎🥰) & Kathy cited many studies to provide evidence for this
@bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social
That got me giggling in the collection!
Oh my!!! I was not ready for that
My flea-Vs (or flea volunteers) are incorporating accession material that have been hidden in boxes, waiting to be processed.
Look how happy they are! Especially as this is type material that is both new to science (well it was in 1995) & new to our collection. (Why so long? Only one Erica..)
To be fair, I’d argue that everything would think anything is terrifying if it was being fed upon.
They aren’t terrifying - they’re marvels
awesome fly art
@flygirlnhm.bsky.social
