🪰NEW RELEASE! The most complete photographic guide to #flies ever published featuring 1500+ photos and covering 1200+ species.
From #craneflies to #hoverflies, #soldierflies to #robberflies + distribution maps for each species.
tinyurl.com/ytj33mwf
#Diptera #Entomology @naturebureau.bsky.social
Male Broad Centurion Soldier Fly, Chloromyia formosa and a 7-spot Ladybird Coccinella septempuntctata interacting on a Hogweed Flower
Ever seen a Soldier Fly licking a Ladybird?! 👀 Me neither, until yesterday! A male Broad Centurion interacting, possibly not by intention or mutual consent, with a 7-spot Ladybird! 🤣 #Entomology #Soldierflies #Stratiomyidae #Beetles #Coccinellidae
Fen Snout soldierflies ♂ and ♀ (Nemotelus pantherinus) on buttercups at Thornton in the @ldvnnr.bsky.social Lower Derwent Valley in East Yorkshire today. Huge numbers of them! @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social #soldierflies @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
Murky-legged Black Legionaire (Beris chalybata) on a white t-shirt
The same fly relocated to a slightly grubby windowsill
My first Murky-legged Black Legionnaire (Beris chalybata) of the year has turned up in a basket of clean washing! #soldierflies @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social
Picture shows a pile of kombucha pellicle (SCOBY) on top of a compost bin prior to covering over. I really heavily on worms and soldierfly larvae to process my large composting efforts. Kombucha pellicle is a huge food draw for them and in return, ensures richer compost.
I made a regular pickup of kombucha waste for my compost / worms / soldierfly efforts. This is the pellicle...
#Compost #worms #vermiculture #soldierflies
#UrbanGrowing #ContainerGrowing #UrbanGardening
#gardensky #gardens #gardening #GrowStuff #GardeningFeed #Backyards #LawnKiller
A composite image with a wetland landscape in the background (Thompson Common, Norfolk), and two soldierflies in the foreground (Odontomyia angulata, Orange-horned Green Colonel, and Stratiomys potamida, Banded General, both feeding on flowers at the edge of water)
On #WorldWetlandsDay don't forget to celebrate the wonderful range of #soldierflies that depend on unpolluted natural wetlands for their survival, alongside all the other plants and animals of these special places www.worldwetlandsday.org @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
Lateral view of a Common Green Colonel soldierfly, facing left and feeding on white umbel flowers. The fly has a bronze, shiny thorax with lime green on the side and underneath the abdomen.
Overhead view of the same Common Green Colonel soldierfly, showing the flattened green abdomen with a broad black band down the centre.
Common Green Colonel soldierfly (Oplodontha viridula) seen on the Somerset Levels last May.
#insectthursday
#soldierflies
A Striped Slender Robberfly hanging vertically from a grass flower. The fly has a long grey abdomen extending beyond the wings, and long orange-brown legs which are clasping the flower head.
Striped Slender Robberfly (Leptogaster cylindrica) from Longrun Meadow in Taunton last Summer. Great to watch it make darting forays for prey amid the tall herbage then come to rest suspended from a suitable new vantage point.
#insectthursday
#soldierflies
View of a Black Colonel soldierfly sitting on sunny reeds. The fly is facing left and has a bronzey-coloured back and a broad dark abdomen.
Another view of the same fly. This time it is facing left, and the sun is giving the fly a silvery sheen.
A Black Colonel soldierfly (Odontomyia tigrina) from the Somerset Levels in May last year. The sun gave the fly a nice silvery sheen when it moved position.
#soldierflies
#insectthursday
#bugsky
Good photo! A robberfly that seems to be doing well around Morecambe Bay, judging by the numbers recorded during the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social meeting. #soldierflies
As @sjbknott.bsky.social has said, this is the superb Three-lined Soldier, Oxycera trilineata (a male), which breeds in shallow ditches and pools and fens, and can cope with slightly brackish conditions #soldierflies
Great photo of a Kite-tailed Robberfly (Machimus atricapillus), and the others are quite good as well (they can't help it if they're not #soldierflies and allies 😄)
Thanks on behalf of the #soldierflies for all the hard work protecting this fabulous habitat 🙏
Solva marginata Drab Wood-soldierfly In Stonham, Mid-Suffolk in July 2024. Picture by Rab King 2024
Well it is #Flyday
Here's one of my highlights this year. The Xylomyid, Solva marginata or Drab Wood-soldierfly, which I was lucky enough to be shown along a sunny riverside hedge by farmer, Graham Denny, at Stonham in Mid-Suffolk in July. Lovely picture by Rab King.
#soldierflies
#FlyFriday
Very appropriate for our early-stage Bsky account 😄: larvae of one of the terrestrial #soldierflies, possibly one of the Pachygaster group bsky.app/profile/ento...
Agreed, a very good ID guide for UK use, covering 7 of the 11 families in the #soldierflies and allies recording scheme
The Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme is now on Bsky: @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social - please follow for soldierflies, robberflies, bee-flies and more! #ento #UKwildlife #soldierflies
I was surprised but pleased to discover a Twin-spot Centurion #soldierfly (Sargus bipunctatus) resting on a nettle in dappled shade at Longrun Meadow in Taunton today, very much at the end of its flight period.
#soldierflies
#Bugsky
#entomology
The amazing Hornet Robberfly (robberflies are part of the UK Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme) #soldierflies
Hornet Robberfly with Woodland Grasshopper prey, Britain's biggest fly.
Two for the price of one, Hornet Robberfly (Asilus crabroniformis) with a Woodland Grasshopper (Omocestus rufipes) for iRecord in the New Forest this afternoon. What a beast! #soldierflies #insects #NewForest
Screenshot of one page of the guide, with labelled photos showing how to recognise the genus Atylotus
Another ID guide emerges 😊 covering the 4 UK horsefly species in Atylotus, a genus of gorgeous grey, green and golden flies. Thanks as ever for 📸 from Steven Falk, Malcolm Storey, Gary Hedges, Paul Brewster, Peter Brash & Rob Wolton. Download from dipterists.org.uk/soldierflies... #soldierflies
An example page from the identification guide for robberflies, showing comparison photos with labelled features for two species of Machimus robberfly
Screenshot of acknowledgments: These guides are only possible thanks to the generosity of the brilliant photographers who have allowed their images to be used. Special thanks to Steven Falk and Malcolm Storey, whose photo collections form the backbone for this species guide: Steven Falk’s photo collections on Flickr – Malcolm Storey’s BioImages website Other photos included in this guide are by Andy Brown, Arnold Wijker, Colin le Boutillier, Dick Belgers, Fritz Geller-Grimm, Geoffrey Foale, Ian Andrews, James Fowler, Janet Graham, Jeremy Early, Kevin McGee, Malcolm Smart, Marc de Winkel, Mark Gurney, Martin Harvey, Nigel Jones, Paul Kitchener, Rob Petley-Jones, Simon Van Toller, Sue Taylor, Sylvie Herault and Tim Worfolk.
A new ID guide is now available for all 27 species in the robberfly family (Asilidae) in the UK. Download the PDF from dipterists.org.uk/soldierflies... A very big thank you to the large number of people who have made their photos available 🙏 #soldierflies
Very nice! Tagging with #soldierflies for the UK soldierfly recording feed
Two small soldierflies, Pachygaster leachii and Green Gem, Microchrysa flavicornis, both females #soldierflies
Page from the ID guide for Microchrysa soldierflies, with four photos of the female of M. flavicornis, labelled to show identification features
P. leachii (female) is fine, the other is M. flavicornis (female), as shown by the yellow front femora. ID guide available at dipterists.org.uk/soldierflies... #soldierflies
Certainly is! Please add to iRecord if possible #soldierflies
A great result from #WildflowerHour - a record from a new site for the rare Downland Robberfly, Machimus rusticus #soldierflies
Wish I had this in my garden! #soldierflies
Over recent days we’ve seen Chloromyia formosa, the Broad Centurian soldier fly, in far greater numbers than usual in the garden. All very busy and rarely resting, but we found this one on this cooler day sitting near the pond.
#flies #Soldierflies #ento #UKwildlife
