🪰 DEADLINE: Dipterists Society Travel and Research Grant applications are due by 9 February 2026 Please see the last issue of Fly Times (dipterists.org/assets/PDF/f...) or visit the Society's website for details: dipterists.org/grants_award...

Gosh I have photographed a lot of flies over the years.

🚨 Postdoc announcement 🚨 Taxonomy of Neotropical Mythicomyiidae at Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP) For more details follow this link: fapesp.br/oportunidade... Photo: male Amydrostylus triadicophallus Lamas, Falaschi & Evenhuis, 2015 (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil)

Ok so I’ve seen a lot of pinned insects in my time but I’ve NEVER seen wing rests for mosquitoes The @unirdgento.bsky.social have been charged to give me data about these specimens in the @uniofreading.bsky.social collection because they are FABULOUS @royentsoc.bsky.social @entcollnet.bsky.social

After being rather busy and after much procrastination, today I started on the outline for a new Sphaeroceridae key; this may take a while (a couple of years maybe)! Copromyzinae first, pic of Alloborborus pallifrons @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @sjthomasbotany.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

A SEM scan of 3D preserved cuticle of a solider fly larva(Stratiomyidae) from Miocene of Slovenia. Beautifull pattern of Calcium Carbonate "scales" armoring the larva is well visible. #FossilFriday #Fossils🪰⚒️🦖

A long-awaited review of the 400+ fly genera of Hermann Loew is finally out (yep, that's a younger Hermann Loew sans moustache). h/t to Joachim Ziegler for the archival research on his bio and making contact with Loew's great granddaughter to get the portrait. www.mapress.com/zt/article/v...

The photos by @bertonemyia.bsky.social that I shared in the original post were too low resolution to do them justice. High resolution versions of the images can be found at flic.kr/p/2qhLuLf flic.kr/p/2qggWyp flic.kr/p/2qgcns8 flic.kr/p/2qggWwv

What a time to be alive!! #FliesofBritainandIreland coming out SOON @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Looking forward to the course and to being back in Costa Rica with you!

Join us in Costa Rica for Fly School IV! Applications are now open. Visit dipterists.org/fly_school.h... for application & info. @dipterists.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @bertonemyia.bsky.social @ariannatc.bsky.social @phorid.bsky.social

Just out. Lots of muscid info packed into 1,341 pp. archive.org/details/be18...

As the Arctic warms, mosquitoes—and the diseases they carry—float north. A recent study finds Jamestown Canyon virus and snowshoe hare virus present in mosquitoes in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of North America.

First for me - walking through the galleries with a Demijohn and a model of a Piophilidae Today we deinstall Creepy Crawlies and models/specimens are off to quarantine

My first louse (flat) flies of the year! Stenepteryx (Crataerina) hirundinis puparia (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) with flies emerging about 5 months early. I probably should have kept them somewhere cooler!

Don't let this delicate little muppet fly fool you - larvae are voracious predators of armored scale insects! A member of the "gall" midge family, it has abandoned plant feeding for a meat-based diet (like many others). #Cecidomyiidae: #Dentifibula viburni Host = white prunicola scale; #Diaspididae

Taxonomic and faunistic comments on European Scatophila Becker (Diptera: Ephydridae), with descriptions of four new species Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202... #Diptera #Ephydridae #shoreflies @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @bioone.bsky.social

A new species of Ptilodexia (Diptera: Tachinidae: Dexiinae) from Ecuador, with a key to the South American species Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202... #Diptera #Tachinidae #flies #bristleflies @leibnizlib.bsky.social @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @bioone.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

A new genus and new species of Mycetophilidae from Singapore. Paper authored by Fly School instructor Dalton Amorim, Fly School I alumnus @derschwingfliegen.bsky.social, and others

A new species of phorid fly described by Fly School III alumnus Valerio Caruso and others

First record of Paragus karnaliensis (Diptera: Syrphidae) from India, with notes on Indian species of the genus Paragus Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202... #hoverflies #flowerflies #flies #India @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @bioone.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Learn more about #diptera Funding available for Summer field meeting 2026 #fieldcraft #entomology #pollinators #foodwebs #detritivores Application deadline is 5th Jan. Email [email protected] @britentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Enjoy a lovely walk through a Colombian mountain-top forest with @tshahan.bsky.social! We suggest watching the whole video (youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?...), but if you want to skip to the flies 🪰 you can click here: youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?... Amazing!

Day 24 of #InsectAdvent and the flying reindeer have arrived! Oh no they haven’t… It’s a Ricardia sp (Richardiidae) that I collected from Honduran Cloud Forest, one of the many species of antlered flies. @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 23 of #InsectAdvent As the angels spread their wings, so do the flies. Rhamphomyia marginata (Empididae) are found across Europe & unusually for animals, it is the females that form the flirty swarms. Maybe not such angelic behaviour 😉 @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

my modest collection of flies with WIDE heads 🙇 a hammer-headed Richardia (Ecuador), a stalk-eyed Chaetodiopsis (Mozambique), a pointy-eyed Ophthalmoptera (Colombia), and an antlered Richardia (Colombia) why though? male-male competition? sexual selection? chime-in if you know!

Day 21 of #InsectAdvent Christmas is a time of over-eating. But we're not the biggest feasters. Hermetia illucens (Black-Soldier fly) larvae are capable of eating up to 2x its own body mass in food per day - the best bio recyclers consuming our waste @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

One of the highlights from Fly School last year!

Day 19 of #InsectAdvent Santa has a sac full of presents, so does Villa cingulata but hers is full of sand. Her sac is at the end of her abdomen & here she is twerking to get the sand to coat her eggs (on exit) to prevent desiccation - cool mum 😎 @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Just in time for the holidays, a little gift: FLY TIMES Issue 75 (Fall 2025)! 🪰 📰 🎁 Check it out for all the latest Diptera/fly news. **Don't forget to check out the call for grant applications through the society too!** dipterists.org/assets/PDF/f...

Day 18 of #InsectAdvent - LET IT SNOW Chionea (Limoniidae) are a genus of wingless craneflies commonly called Snow flies (not found in UK but 'strongly suspected' that they are here...). Adults can be seen scuttling across the snow in the winter @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 17 of #InsectAdvent.. Big day is almost upon us. Have you hung your baubles yet? What about this specimen belonging to the most bauble of flies Celyphidae (beetle flies or beetle-backed flies). Mostly metallic with their enlarged scutellum grown over their abdomen @royentsoc.bsky.social

Day 16 #InsectAdvent The Nativity story is set in a stables in Bethlehem where the People were surrounded by animals, not all of them welcome. The stable fly Stomoxys calcitrans (Muscidae) gives the gift of a painful 'bite' to all attending mammals @dipterists.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

Day 13 #InsectAdvent & have you decorated the tree yet? What about this tree? This in fact the hairy whorls of a male Chaoborid or Phantom midge’s antennae. Packed full of sensors, this ‘tree’ is more than a mere decoration @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 14 #InsectAdvent & Christmas cards are being sent/ received Can you imagine having to write a card to this soldierfly - Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides. It has the longest name in the Animal Kingdom. Luckily the address is short.. @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 15 #InsectAdvent And even the flies are getting festive. Sporting massive antlers akin to Moose or Reindeer, Phytalmia sp (Tephritidae) males, will use them to fight for their right.......to PARTY (with the opposite sex...) @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Check it out! A new blow fly phylogeny just dropped 🔍 🪰 resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #Calliphoridae #blowflies

Day 12!!! Of #InsectAdvent

Day 11 of #InsectAdvent & one of my favs Cephenemyia trompe aka The reindeer nose botfly If you are a reindeer & this is your view be prepared to have eggs squirted into your nostrils! Mothers track hosts over long distances before firing her eggs @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 10 of #InsectAdvent & the Christmas flirting has ramped up This male Robberfly, Pegesimallus teratodes, has striking, feather-like scales on its hind legs, likely used for female attraction during courtship. (& cleaning the dance floor) @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 9 of #InsectAdvent and our thoughts turn to a Christmas vacation. And where best to go than Christmas Island where we can find Syritta maritima - one of the compost hoverflies whose larvae (the munching maggots) will recycle our leftovers @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 4 of #InsectAdvent Have you been to the office party, wearing your finest & then spilt food on it? You need a personal hoover-meet Braula coeca (bee-louse or bee-rider). Found on bees, they feed on the food passed between the bees. Food may have to be sacrificed but your image won't be

Day 7 of #InsectAdvent There’s always the one team member that gets legless. And so did this mosquito. Luckily for us this specimen was identified as Aedes macintoshi - an absolute youngster having only been described in 1985! @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Day 6 of #InsectAdvent Done all your prep for you Xmas party? Decorations up, food organised and your outfit looking amazing. Then relax like this Bombylius discolor - sitting down in its finest waiting for the action to start… @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

For #FlyFriday or #Flyday why not a new podcast with me talking flies with Paul McGuinness on #WildLives (ignore the one of the worlds experts - many better than me!!) #bbcwildlife podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...

Day 5 of #InsectAdvent The imbiber. The one that’s always finishing every last drop of wine Rhingia campestris - the Heineken fly so called as it refreshes the parts other insects cannot reach..cheers @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

#FlyFriday new revision of assassin-fly genus Acronyches Williston, 1908 (Asilidae: Leptogastrinae) with @ento-allan.bsky.social out - 4 new species from Central + South America - flies catch spiders in their web (see www.inaturalist.org/observations... doi doi.org/10.4289/0013... #asiloidflies

Look at those eyes! #flyday #bugskye #entomology #macro

Legs, wings, spines abound! Fungus gnat fornication. Making more lil' flies. #Mycetophilidae Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Ahhh happy Sunday night everyone. The wonderful @nhcooper123.bsky.social and @joshlukedavis.com thought it wise to ask me to talk about my fav specimens… Enjoy. @dipterists.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social