It’s the @amentsoc.bsky.social annual fair & I’m here with the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Lots of great fly talk & some great exhibits including these from some of the younger members of the AmEntSoc - aren’t they great? #entomology

#FlyFriday Apiocera pica Norris, 1936 (Apioceridae, USNMENT00832111) from Wandoo National Park, Western Australia collected in 2011 - more info here n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies #USNMDiptera

Tired of doom scrolling? Want to help a PhD student out? Check your collection for Promachus (and friends) and I'll be forever indebted! If you need an excuse to get outside and go collecting this weekend, this is it! #Asilidae #Diptera

Dark taxa are extremely diverse organisms that remain largely undescribed due to small size, subtle differences, & few experts. Take this quiz to find out what you are - I'm a gall midge! whatdarktaxonareyou.static.domains/insect-quiz.... by @vivianfeng.bsky.social & @flyliceresearch.bsky.social

**Attention fly enthusiasts!** We're looking for presenters for the Dipterists Society General Meeting at ESA @entsocamerica.bsky.social in Portland, OR (November 11th) If you're interested in giving a talk, please DM me for a link to submit a title/abstract. Deadline to submit is October 10th.

Open call for presentations for the Dipterists Society 34th General Meeting, taking place in Portland, OR in November. Both in-person and virtual presentations will be considered.

Posted today: AMNH Invertebrate zoology is hiring a new collectuons manager (curatorial associate).

I am reassociating mosquito heads with bodies this afternoon and I got sidetracked by this BEAUTY Aedes (mucidus) grahamii - this little lady was from Entebbe, Uganda and was collected in 1961. And STILL looking fabulous @nhm-london.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @mosquitolab.bsky.social

This is an interesting interaction for entomology folks. Found some ants that looked like they were aphid farming, but they were walking around with abdomens up, which seemed weird. Well, there was a phorid fly lurking around. Mammoth, AZ

EXCITING NEWS - BEEFLIES are getting LOVE The fluffy-flying-narwals are 1 of the 10 species to be nominated for Invertebrate of the Year @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social @patrickbarkham.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A gorgeous fly collected from @opwallscience.bsky.social trip to Honduras in 2023 Ormia sp. are very special Tachinidae as they have ‘ears’ on their prothorax that they use to listen for the hosts (Orthoptera) for their offspring to live in and consume 😎🤓 @dipterists.bsky.social

⭐ 2024 Top Finds/Pics ⭐ Easily one of the best photos I've ever taken; amazingly took only 1 shot! These dance #flies were hovering slowly, mating mid-air. As many do, the ♀️ is feeding on prey as a nuptial gift 🎁 given by the ♂️ Grateful that Geo Rojas Malavasi saw them 🙏 #Empididae Costa Rica

It's #BlackFLYday Here is a little cheeky Simuliid from #FlySchool24 in Costa Rica (image by the amazing @bertonemyia.bsky.social whilst we were teaching at @dipteracourse.bsky.social) (ok this is not totally black but it IS a blackfly!) (Don't you love names....)

Another "1st live photo" I assume; a GENUS this time! Thanks to an iNat user who dug in & identified this #fly as Helgreelia parkeri (Odiniidae). Genus + 2 spp. were first described by our good friend Steve Gaimari (CDFA) in 2007 Soltis Center, Costa Rica (August) @dipteracourse.bsky.social

Great photo, Matt! Melaloncha are very striking 😍

Come by the Dipterists Society meeting this evening if you're at #EntSoc24 or join virtually!

Hope to see you at the Dipterists Society meeting on Tuesday, 12 Nov, at #EntSoc24 in Phoenix! Join in person or virtually. Visit dipterists.org/annual_meeti... for more info, including the Zoom link. @jpgillung.bsky.social @bertonemyia.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @ento-allan.bsky.social

The #DipteristsForum AGM and Dipterists Day at the Natural History Museum, London on the 16th Nov 2024 In person or online - here talks, chat flies, see some specimens dipterists.org.uk/news/agm-dip...

Whilst in the #CostaRican mid-altitude rain forest, I came across this little cutie (yes I’ve said that about a vertebrate!) This is the first #salamander I’ve come across in the wild - informed it’s Bolitoglossa striatula - & so rather happy! #SoltisCentre @dipteracourse.bsky.social

A wonderful image taken by @bertonemyia.bsky.social of Plagiocephala latifrons, a stalk-eyed #Ullidiidae caught at #FlySchool24 @dipteracourse.bsky.social

We're all sitting comfortably as #DavidGrimaldi is taking us through Acalptrates at #FlySchool24 - 74 families (43 in Costa Rica) Up first - lets sort out the arrangement of head bristles. Some 'easy', colour-coded diagrams are a blessing #taxonomy #bristles @dipteracourse.bsky.social

Old school vs new school when it comes to Dipteran wing vein terminology.. Very handy diagram by David Grimaldi highlighting the name changes for the participants at #FlySchool24 @dipteracourse.bsky.social

This is an organised participant of @dipteracourse.bsky.social #FlySchool25 Having to check the many different names to all the different parts of the body is a steep (& often frustrating 😞) learning curve so anything to help is a bonus 👊🤓

Yesterday, I climbed up the 40+ m Canopy Tower this morning at #SoltisCentre, #CostaRica. Lots of beautiful epiphytes, Sabethes were flying around us and some amazing views What an experience #FlySchool24 @dipteracourse.bsky.social

#FlySchool24 @dipteracourse.bsky.social @jpgillung.bsky.social is talking Empids to the participants whilst Dalton & I am at the back showing each other genitalia pictures - just like the naughty kids that we are… Chileramphomyia sp - ohhhhhhhh come on! That’s ludicrous

First morning of #FlySchool24 & traps are set - pan traps, malaise and a baited Shannon trap have been set. Sweeps have occurred & collections have started @dipteracourse.bsky.social

Wendy Porras, @jpgillung.bsky.social, and I have been getting the Fly School lab ready for Thursday, when this year's course begins. Looking forward to seeing folks soon! @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @bertonemyia.bsky.social

Thrilled to announce that the incredible @flygirlnhm.bsky.social will be an instructor at Fly School this year! Our other fantastic instructors are @jpgillung.bsky.social @bertonemyia.bsky.social Dalton Amorim, Brian Brown, David Grimaldi, Jim Hogue, & Paula Riccardi. Can't wait for Costa Rica!!

Martin Hauser and @flygirlnhm.bsky.social employing a cooperative double-poot technique to collect oil flies. Love to see fly folks working together!

So @flygirlnhm.bsky.social told her friend Dave about our adventures @tarpits.bsky.social. He wrote a poem: There once was a curious fly Diasemocera petrolei That sucks up its food From what dies in the crude And Erica’s just pleased as pie.

With special permission, we went down into Pit 91 - one of the @labreatarpits that is bubbling away - to collect Diasemocera petrolei (Ephydridae)(formally Helaeomyia) a fly that lives in/on petroleum. Thus one of the oddest animals on the planet! #petroleumFlies #Entomology #science

Applications for Fly School are now open! Join us 1-12 Aug 2024 in Costa Rica for our first course offering in the Neotropics! Visit dipteracourse.com for the application.