14 in that tangle?

Can't think who you have in mind.....

The life history is incredible. Besides all the mind bending trickery they employ to fool ant hosts, eat ant larvae and intercept worker ants for food, they move to different host genera from summer to winter. They are described as "psychoparasites"!

New word. Apparently this bike lamp is "technologized"

Oh yes, Avast is the same.

Yep. Avast is at fault it seems. I turned it off and iRecord can be accessed.

I've added the irecord url to my exceptions in Avast, but still no joy. I guess the antivirus is the issue?

I can access iRecord on my smart phone. But on my laptop my antivirus (Avast) says this:
What do I need to do? The message means nothing to me!

Anyone else not able to get on iRecord this morning?

Yes, it's an absolute treat to watch. Martin Dohr is very engaging.

Send some over to my Rosemary. "Rosemary Leaf Beetles welcome here!"

I have just watched 'My Garden of a Thousand Bees', and my mind is blown.

Bees. They have personalities. They use sticks. It's changed how I think of insects that's for sure. I can't recommend it enough.

On BBC iPlayer. It's wonderful. And you will meet a leafcutter bee called Nicky.

Thanks David. That's one curious wasp. Just looked at the RES key to Psilus and have decided taking it to species is impractical without a reference collection. A super beastie though!

It took me an age to confirm it is Diapriidae.

I have the 1980 RES key - it looks intimidating!

A slim shiny, black wasp with reduced wings and curiously positioned mouthparts.

Spotted this amazing little brachypterous Diapriidae in a suction sample today. Llynclys, Shropshire. What are the mouth parts doing at the back of the head? Anyone any idea what genus this might be? About 3mm length. @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social e @ajcann.bsky.social

I did, not a did 😬

My first garden A. fulva for me too today. Very obligingly landed on my hand as a did a spot of plant thug control.

Magnificent beasts

Agreed - top, top, top news!

A bristly fly on an insect net

Splendid: This Tachina ursina made frequent stops on my insect net at Block Wood, Ceri Forest. We were at 435 metres alt. so this is an early emergence, even for this early season species.

Or a Tachinidae?

Just pointing out this post. Think about it.

Callitula pyrrhogaster

Callitula cf bicolor

Callitula cf bicolor

Wildlife Group's trip to Llanymynech Rocks on the England/Wales border yesterday in glorious sunshine produced the tiny (c. 2mm), wingless wasp Callitula pyrrhogaster as usual. But we also founds its fully-winged relative C. cf bicolor for a change.

‘I love midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out? Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be ...

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ah yes. Your now legendary Melanophora.

Thanks. V useful.

THE WAIT IS OVER - We're busy mailing out copies of our new guide to #FliesofBritainandIreland to all those who pre-ordered. Order your copy here bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @rdimond.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

BTW. I am fairly certain I HAVE seen this wasp a few times, if they are characterised by the dark red-brown colour at the base of the abdomen?

I have the key, I just need to be sure I actually have Callitula. This image is very helpful. Are there any useful key characters to check to make sure specimens are in the genus Callitula, besides them looking like this?