Heads up folks Some Tabanidae that were sampled from the Canopy Tower at the Soltis Center, Costa Rica These images show both differences in eye patterns & antennal branching. Sadly the eye patterns disappear as they desicate so images are important #FlySchool2026 @dipteracourse.bsky.social

Check out this extraordinary female Eucelatoria sp (Tachinidae). She possess a sharp piercer that she tucks up underneath her when not being deployed, for oviposition - you can see her ovipositor nestled in this penetrating sheath! Badass lady! @dipteracourse.bsky.social #FlySchool2026

A rather lovely male Artemita sp (Stratiomyidae), one of the larger Pachygastrinae in Costa Rica. This genus mostly has species with hairy eyes, and this one is no exception @dipteracourse.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social #FlySchool2026

A female Physoptera (Phoridae) showing off/advertising her presence, by releasing pheromones through her abdominal glands (the yellow stripes on her abdomen). As you can see they have reduced abdominal plates (tergites) that allow these glands to expand #FlySchool2026 @dipteracourse.bsky.social

A gorgeous new family of flies for me - Xylomyidae, the Wood Soldier flies These have been poorly studied as most caught via malaise but Antoine Touret hand caught this off a wall at the @soltiscenter. 3spp described in Costa Rica but many more waiting to de determined @dipteracourse.bsky.social

@bertonemyia.bsky.social asked his seven year old nephew to give common names to flies.. Do you agree? And can you name the actual families? #FlySchool2026 @dipteracourse.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Lots of ‘whooping’ about the next lecture at #FlySchool2026 by @riccardi-p.bsky.social - genitalia preps ‘We use genitalia as its under positive selection’. @dipteracourse.bsky.social

Afternoons lecture by Brian Brown at @dipteracourse.bsky.social #FlySchool2026 starts with Hypopygial circumversion in the higher flies Instead of the males being dragged along, their genitalia has rotated to offer them some dignity 🤓🤘

In today’s @theguardian.com there is a more balanced article on the value of flies 😎 by Lucy Knight featuring Andrew Whitehouse @buglife.bsky.social and myself @nhm-london.bsky.social Lots are moaning but let’s think about the bigger picture..what is happening to cause an outbreak

Drilling into the participants of #FlySchool2026 @dipteracourse.bsky.social that boots/wellies in the jungle are essential. As for the bullet ants..they come for you. It’s all giggles but if you leave your lights on, they will find you 🤓😉

And so it begins… #FlySchool2026 in Costa Rica. @dipteracourse.bsky.social tutors include @bertonemyia.bsky.social @riccardi-p.bsky.social @dsamorim.bsky.social, Giar-Ann, Jim Hogue and Greg Dahlem and myself. Heading to the jungle…

Thanks @drtonygillie.bsky.social - it’s Tachina grossa and apparently it’s called "Harald den kæmpestore flue” The reason is given below 🤘

Physocephala rufipes - the Waisted Beegrabber This should be more appropriately be called the bumblebeegrabber as it’s been reared from a variety of species. It was hanging around in a beautiful meadow in West Sussex @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

For the upcoming @dipteracourse.bsky.social we are preparing a shopping list.... I can't wait to smear rotten meat around the Costa Rican Canopy... @dipterists.bsky.social

Survived day 1 at @globalbirdfair.bsky.social & it was a blast. Huge no’s of folks talking all things, some not even about birds 😎🪰🦟 Career defining performance of acting out the Leopard slug mating with @seanthevet and squirting maggots into Nick Bakers nostril…

I’ve been roped into sitting on the @buglife.bsky.social stand at @globalbirdfair.bsky.social Working on the younger attendees to foster their love of bugs #insects

So a weekend of persuading bird folks that they should move on from loving the two legged to the six legged creatures… Maybe I’ll start off with Craneflies to ease them in gently (they never have the full set) @globalbirdfair.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Well @dipteristsforum.bsky.social - huge amount of info about UK species Or @dipterists.bsky.social - huge amount of info about global species (with a north american bent) and specifically for Doli's - there is the new @royentsoc.bsky.social publication www.royensoc.co.uk/shop/publica...

Not one but TWO Glowworms in the garden. These nocturnal beauties are magical These wingless females are glowing for a couple of hours each night to attract the boys into the garden.. www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/bug-dir... @royentsoc.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social

This weekend Erica McAlister. In the Library. With the maggots. Come along to The Repton Festival and listen to me wax lyrical about the planets finest creatures. Stay for a weekend of curated, eclectic arts events from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th July 2026. 🪰@dipteristsforum @royentsoc.bsky.social

I’ve just watered my veg and got rewarded with coming across this wee thing.. Plonk plonk splosh..

The perfected upside down usage of scopes! Torbjørn Ekrem demonstrates his skills whilst helping students on the #BIOCOREFlies26 course

Scathophagidae are dead. Long live Anthomyidae, Scathophaginae Yep, Scathophagids are a subfamily of Anthomyiids! (Without hairy subscutellum) @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Final morning of #BIOCOREFlies26 and it’s the Calyptrates with Thomas Pape Lots of fun looking for lumps, bumps and curving veins. #InsectWeek @dipterists.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Tonight we have a guest lecture by Netta Dorchin - a world expert in Gall midges The biggest family in dark taxa, and by quite a margin..within Hymenoptera, it’s the Platygastrids, which are parasites of Gall midges…. #BIOCOREFlies26 #insectweek @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

I. Love. This. At Station Linne, on Oland, Sweden for #BIOCOREFlies26 fly course. A fab way to spend #InsectWeek They understood the assignment…

It’s only just gone 9am in Sweden and we are already onto our second lecture (don’t worry they are short) Island Biogeography with Thomas Pape and lower Diptera (nematocera) with Torbjørn Ekrem. #BIOCOREFlies26

Yes I am on a fly course but we are not immune to the rest of the fauna and flora that surrounds us on Oland, Sweden #BIOCOREFlies26 #stagbeetle #oilbeetle #fungi

Thomas Pape talks Nomenclature - Scientists often quote the famous ecologist Robert May about the value of taxonomy & systemstatics BUT Thomas argues that nomenclature is necessary first for those disciplines to be studied #BIOCOREFlies26

Working out risks associated with fieldwork with the students on the #BIOCOREFlies26 course Protect the Taxonomists!!