News splash! 💦 🐟 GBIF data use surges globally, powering more than 12,000 studies across 180 countries! 🤯 The systematic review led by Dirk Steinke published in @pnas.org examined scopes, methods and complementary data sources in literature citing GBIF. Read more: 🔗 gbif.link/systematic...

Megaphorus sp. - Asilinae: Apocleini #asiloidflies

What we had until today: a fragmented model of access/request of specimens. What #ELVIS (European Loans & Visit System) already offers: a single entry point for estandardised practices across institutions, better discoverability and traceability. DEMO 👉 www.dissco.eu/applications...

#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

Demodex mites live in your facial pores and have lost some of the genes that respond to daylight. They cannot make their own melatonin, so they use the melatonin your skin releases at night as a cue to crawl out and mate on your face. You're never truly alone. ❤️ 🧪 #entomology #invert 🪲🪳

What are the most pressing questions about the status of #insects? Our survey is available here in multiple languages: bit.ly/insectquestions! #insect #entomology #biodiversity

Gemeinsam mit dem @rote-liste-zentrum.bsky.social haben wir die neue Rote Liste der #Raubfliegen Deutschlands veröffentlicht. Das Ergebnis ist alarmierend: Jede zweite Art ist bestandsgefährdet oder ausgestorben❗️ www.bfn.de/pressemittei... #RoteListe #Biodiversität #Naturschutz #CitizenScience

If you have a student, anywhere in the world, who would like and entomological society membership please have them come on over to our entopoc.org website to sign up for up to three free memberships per student!

It's cold in the UK (and other parts of the world ;)) So lets turn our thoughts to next summer & the return of FLY SCHOOL - yes the most amazing Dipterological training experience in the Costa Rican Forest (with canopy access) is BACK Can't wait @dipteracourse.bsky.social

I wrote up some brief notes on Model Context Protocol (MCP) and triple stores iphylo.blogspot.com/2025/11/mode.... The idea of querying knowledge graphs using natural language is intoxicating.

And we're off! #DipteraDay2025 Opening the Day is @denisewawman.bsky.social 'Mapping the UK's flat flies - A Citizen Science Project'. A heady mix of #ornithology, #diptera and #climate change. Recordings for the Day available on our website YouTube here: m.youtube.com/@DipteristsF...

#FlyFriday beautiful dark-colored assassin fly Diogmites nigripennis (Macquart, 1847) (Asilidae: Dasypogoninae) with wasp prey - collected at La Selva, Costa Rica in 2010 - 1 of 125 species of assassin flies known from this lowland rainforest habitat - n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies

We're at #ECN2025 in Portland, Oregon! We're passionate about entomological collections, which is why we published some of last year's ECN in a special topical collection: nhcm.pensoft.net/topical_coll... Check out the @pensoft.net stand for our latest news!

Steven Hammer, one of our regular collection users, co-developed a new #insect pinning block, with staff and volunteers from the museum. It’s 3D-printed and open source, so you can try it for yourself: cults3d.com/en/3d-model/... #ECN2025

Hey EntFriends #EntSoc25: This high school entomology club in California is looking for funds to support their pinning and collections. Can we make that happen? Any donations large and small will help! www.donorschoose.org/project/inse...

#FlyFriday new assassin fly species described from #Namib Desert today - Acnephalomyia metallicoindica Blee, Cabrero & Dikow, 2025 (Asilidae: Willistonininae) - summer research project by Tayler Blee in 2024 - species endemic to gravel plains of Namib - doi doi.org/10.3897/AfrI... #asiloidflies

A new species is described as the assassin-fly genus 𝐴𝑐𝑛𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑦𝑖𝑎 is reviewed in the southern Namib Desert. 🔗 doi.org/10.3897/afri... @ento-allan.bsky.social @tdikow.bsky.social

Aren't robberflies amazing? Large, fast, predatory flies that inject their prey with a paralysing and digestive neurotoxin, then suck out the liquified contents. Yum. We saw this fine example on an #orchid in Rhodes this year. Looking forward to what we find there next spring...

Soldierflies are much less well known than hoverflies but some species are highly colourful. Sargus bipunctatus ♀ today in Bengeo garden, large attractive woodland species & last soldierfly to appear during year. @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social #Stratiomyidae

invasive Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula, Fulgoridae) is heavily feeding on the introduced Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima, Simaroubaceae) at my house

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today. Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

with the official IUCN listing for the slender-billed curlew now being Extinct here is the rather sad piece I wrote about what went into this decision I tried to include everything we know about their behaviour and biology, which is tragically little 🪶🧪 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

#OTD 3 Oct 1990 35 years ago - Germany reunited - I grew up in East Germany what became then Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state - beautiful place in north-east on Baltic Sea coast - I view vistas of sea to symbolize freedom, democracy + opportunity that changed my life profoundly #TagderDeutschenEinheit

20 Jahre Darßer Naturfilmfestival-im Oktober sind Naturschützer und Kreative an der Ostsee,um Natur zu bewundern und hieran zu erinnern: „1990 war eine Sternstunde des deutschen Naturschutzes. 5 Nationalparks, 6 Biosphärenreservate und 3 Naturparks entstanden auf 4,5% der Landesfläche der DDR.“

beautiful day in Washington, D.C. - sunny, 15C/60F right now, 23C/73F high - U.S. government shut down last night - Smithsonian museums will remain open until Monday (Oct 6) - after that, all museums will be closed to visitors + staff - employees will be furloughed

I found this rove beetle friend on the rainforest floor. They are so so fast, you can imaging me chasing it around with my camera just rolling around in the leaf litter. Just unbelievable colors. In person the rainbow iridescence is stunning. It’s hard to say much here beyond just wow.

#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

Each year more content moves into the #publicdoman and hence @biodivlibrary.bsky.social can make more articles freely available. Today I've added articles from the Annales of @socentomolfr.bsky.social 1923-1928 to BioStor biostor.org/issn/0037-9271 and these will appear in BHL shortly.

Lions across Africa are under threat from habitat loss, poaching, and wildlife trade. A continent-wide survey of 132 lion subpopulations was conducted in collaboration with landscape managers and lion researchers to determine perceived threat severity. [1/2] @biology.ox.ac.uk

Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean, but support 25% of marine life + nearly 1 billion people. They’re at risk, but not lost. 🪸 🌏

Are you researching the conservation, ecology or taxonomy of soil & litter invertebrates? Submit your paper to this Special Issue of NZ Journal of Zoology, edited by me, @carlosbarreto.bsky.social & @barnesecodiv.bsky.social! More info: www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/nzjz-so... #SoilBiodiversity 🧪

#FlyFriday one of my favorite assassin flies - Sisyrnodytes subater Oldroyd, 1957 (Asilidae: Willistonininae, USNMENT00870084) - collected in north-western South Africa near Pella - more info here n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies

@nhmdk.bsky.social is advertising a PhD fellowship in collection-based Natural History Research focused on dark taxa and unknown species, preferably including representatives of Danish flora, fauna or geology deadline 5 October 2025 candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

Yesterday was the 130th anniversary of the #ICZN, the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature. It was founded during the zoology congress in Leiden, organized by the then director the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Frederik Jentink.

@gbif.org is amazing. And so is Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Paris), for photographing and putting online so many of their African wasps. I can sit at home in Finland, and get a first impression of how well my Ugandan wasps fit a Madagascar species whose type specimen is in France. 🧪

The BHL online collection just hit 200,000 titles! A title could be a single rare book or an entire 200-year journal run, so 200,000 titles is huge (63+ million pages!). Check out BHL's MAMMOTH collection here: www.biodiversitylibrary.org 📖 🧪 🦣 #OpenAccess #OpenScience #ILoveBHL

Unsere #Klimaschutzpolitik reicht nicht mal mehr für das eigene #Klimaschutzgesetz. Die #Erderhitzung eskaliert – und die Regierung schaut weg 😡 Zeit für klare Stimmen bei der #Klimademo am Samstag! ✊ #Scientists4Future #FridaysforFuture

My amazing #Wiki colleague @tiagolubiana.bsky.social has released this lovely video on the #BHLImageExporer. This tool (bhl-gallery.toolforge.org) explores @biodivlibrary.bsky.social images in #Wikicommons. It facilities image reuse in the #Wikiverse. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK9i... #ILoveBHL

AMNH is hiring a #curator! We are searching for an “Assistant Curator in #Climate #Physics: #Atmosphere or #Ocean”! Join us! careers.amnh.org/postings/4579 #academicjobs #tenuretrack

Been a while but well done @nytimes.com for todays #taxonomicfail (and @bfly52.bsky.social for pointing this out) Do love a Spelling Syrphid Forum..

So very pleased and proud to announce that our paper "Revealing hidden figures within natural history collections by empowering students with data sleuthing skills" has been published! #Wikidata #Bionomia #HiddenFigures acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Wenn in Hamburg... Heute abend läuft im Freiluftkino an der Uni der Film "Morenga", basierend auf dem gleichnamigen Roman, einer tollen, frühen Auseinandersetzung mit dem Genozid an den Herero und Nama Vorher gibt es eine Einführung von mir, und danach können wir diskutieren!

#JobAlert #NatHist Smithsonian natural history museum is searching for 4 Museum Specialists in Entomology - 1 = Heteroptera coll, 2 = general coll management, 1 = informatics + data - deadline Aug 19 - 1 year (may be extended based on funds availability) trustcareers.si.edu/postings/a15...

#FlyFriday rarely collected mydas-fly species Agaperemius hirtus Hesse, 1969 (Mydidae: Syllegomydinae; NMNW-H42889) - species is only known from 3 specimens - male from southern Namibia - more detail at @gbif.org record www.gbif.org/occurrence/1... #asiloidflies

Motherfucking wind farms…

Just felt liking putting on some fly piccies! 🙂 Rhipidia maculata; Dioctra linearis and Ravinia pernix. www.dipteraid.co.uk #flies #entomology #dipteraimaging

📢 Just one more day to apply! Deadline: 31 July 2025 at 12pm BST If your research celebrates & empowers underrepresented groups & encourages greater #diversity of contributions in #entomology, apply for The RES #EDI #Grant. Read & apply now 🔽 buff.ly/pLB39iM #CitizenScience #LGBTQA+ #WomenInSTEM

#FlyFriday assassin fly Afromellitodes solis Oldroyd & Van Bruggen, 1967 (NMSA-DIP-93241, Laphriinae) - Rust de Winter NR, Limpopo, South Africa 17.ii.2005 Londt & Dikow - very rare species/genus postulated to mimic Megachile bees - see Londt 2003 hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc84523 #asiloidflies

📎 New species alert: Ceriana ecuadorensis, a wasp-mimicking flower fly from #Ecuador, just described! Collected at 1400 meters in Zamora-Chinchipe. Only the 3rd #Ceriana from #SouthAmerica — distinguished by unique antennal morphology. 📄 doi.org/10.4289/0013... #Diptera #NewSpecies #Taxonomy

1) Ever thought about learning new data skills? 👩‍💻 Through our partnership with DataCamp Adel learned introductory skills in #Python, data manipulation in #Pandas and data visualization techniques with #Seaborn. 🎉