They can, and they do! There’s research to suggest that some flies drink alcohol (naturally-fermented fruits usually but also our hard stuff) to become more attractive to mates, and also to drown their sorrows when they can’t find a mate.
If you can, please donate to help with funeral costs and supporting her family. RIP Sheila Colla. www.gofundme.com/f/support-sh...
Thank you Andrea!
It is! Nice to finally have a starting point for folks to work on and compare their finds against, both for expanding records and for building towards population monitoring. Long, long ways to go, but we’re moving in the right direction.
There’s another series of papers (zookeys.pensoft.net/issue/1251/) that have looked at the overall diversity and number of BINs from Canadian localities, but there is no work reconciling them one-to-one beyond the BOLD database itself to my knowledge
The checklist also serves as a provincial checklist as every species’ known distribution is broken down, as well as an up-to-date catalog of species-level taxonomy and synonyms for all included species.
Rémi Hébert of Environment and Climate Change Canada was the major driving force behind this work as part of the WILD Species project in Canada assessing the status of our natural heritage. We still have lots of work to do building up baseline data for populations, but this is a huge first step!
In Canada, we can now say with confidence that we share our home with 9,777 species of flies. Other estimates suggest this is only about half of the true diversity however, so we have lots more work to document and study them all!
For the first time in over 100 years we have an up-to-date checklist of Canadian Diptera. Really proud to have been a part of this effort!
Cover of "Checklist of the Flies (Diptera) in Canada" featuring two fly images, with contributors and publisher details below.
New book: A checklist to identify all known species of flies in Canada! doi.org/10.3897/ab.e...
"This checklist is a fundamental piece of work that will guide the assessment of the conservation status of those species."
@bioinfocus.bsky.social
Hi! :) And thanks!
Thanks Donna!
Thanks Andrea!
A very warm welcome to ResNet's Interim Network Manager: Dr. Morgan Jackson (you can follow him @bioinfocus.bsky.social)! He will be responsible for overseeing ResNet’s daily operations while our permanent Network Manager Nicole Middlemiss is on leave.
Upper left lateral view of a soldier fly (Stratiomyidae) against a grey background. The head is yellow, the large oval eyes are dark and the dark antennae are quite long (for a fly). The thorax and abdomen are black, slight metallic, white white maculations formed by areas of white, appressed setae. There are two horn-like projections extending back from the posterolateral corners of the scutellum. They curve inward and are slightly tapered, so they really look like horns.
Soldier on.
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#Macrophotography
#FocusStacking
#FlyDayFriday
#FlyFriday
#FlyDay
Arboreal brittle stars! Get Nature on the line, quick lol
Last year, my fantastic co-author @bioinfocus.bsky.social and I published this note observing squirrels foraging insect galls in the Yukon: www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cf... #SquirrelAppreciationDay
Do you have any favourite evolutionary biology resources that are not textbooks? E.g. podcast/youtube series or episodes, blogs, websites, news articles.. I am trying to diversify the resources I recommend to the students in the courses I teach 🤓
Hyperlinked list of resources to create a gender inclusive environment, advocate for name changes, improve information accessibility, and consider daily language and use. The full text document and the links can be accessed on this linktree: https://linktr.ee/trans_inclusion
Coming out, transitioning, and being trans is HARD. Fortunately, there's a lot we can all do, whether cis or trans, to help our colleagues and strengthen our departments. In addition to all the actions we can take, we've also gathered a list of resources.
How to Support Trans Colleagues Create a Gender-Inclusive Environment Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policies that recognize and support gender transition. Support training and advocacy for colleagues’ personal/professional safety (ex. in fieldwork, lab work, conferences, institution visits, affinity groups). Establish and/or identify gender-neutral bathrooms throughout your building. Implement trans-inclusive recruitment and hiring procedures. Acknowledge intersectionality and the unique needs and barriers that someone with multiple marginalized identities may face. Consider the importance of representation in your field. Advocate for Name Changes Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policy to recognize and support an individual’s name change. Identify journals in your field that allow authors to change their names post- publication. Improve Information Accessibility Publicly share information on inclusive practices throughout your departments and institution. (Ensure the content centers and is created by trans people.) Consider Daily Language & Use Decrease use of gendered terms to avoid exclusionary language. Ask for personal pronouns. List on all public-facing directories, and consider including them in email signatures and on professional websites. Practice discretion. Don’t out your colleagues without their consent.
Collaborating with @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and Kanako Shimizu, we put together what's basically a top-ten list of ways to help foster trans inclusivity and awareness within our scientific and academic communities and would love if you could help share the guide!
Want to know how to support trans and gender nonconforming colleagues things you can literally do right now to help?
Check out the first link here for a new two-page handout to share widely! linktr.ee/trans_inclus...
What have I been working on for the last.... uh... 8 years? This 🧵 🐝🪲 entomologytoday.org/2025/01/15/l...
Holy cow, this is incredible! Congratulations on the big reveal and thank you for putting so much work into developing such a great resource!
A tricky #SpotTheInsect!
Globular springtail doodle using colored pencil and ink
Little globular springtail doodle in colored pencil and ink. Inspired by @the_forest_tin on IG, one of my fav macro photographers. 💚
#SciArt 🎨🕷️🐡🐞🌱
Large horsefly with an orange booty, caught in flight with his wings motion-blurred
Horsefly boy in flight, very buzzy 🤎
Rob is an author yes, but Dick is the first author, along with another expert who keyed in on the identity via iNaturalist
Oh yes, he has a research and conservation biology background! He’s from a family of significant naturalists and has contributed lots of time and energy before going into politics to studying and protecting biodiversity in Canada
Exciting #Arachnology news! It's been clear for some time that spiders have 'noses' on their legs but we didn't really understand how they smell airborne sex pheromones.
Now we do! Gabriele Uhl & colleagues have identified the sensilla responsible: 🕷️🧪
www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...
Canadian Member of Parliament Richard Cannings found an unusual antlion in his backyard, posted it to iNaturalist, and just published it as being a new genus record for Canada in a regional society journal journal.entsocbc.ca/index.php/jo... Can't ask for much more in an elected representative TBH!
