For reference the key to this diagram is:

P – Panzeria [...]]]> This is a reprint of the genitalia figures from van Emden’s 1957 handbook – out of print for many years. I find them quite useful for double-checking males – if I get good feedback then I might turn this into a larger article.

For reference the key to this diagram is:

P – Panzeria laevigata, A – Panzeria rudis, B – Panzeria vagans, I – Fausta nemorum, J – Appendicia truncata, K – Eurithia anthophila, L – Eurithia caesia, Q – Eurithia intermedia, R – Eurithia connivens, S – Eurithia vivida, T – Eurithia consobrina

sf = superior forceps = cercus

if = inferior forceps = surstylus

Tachina lurida, © Tristan [...]]]> Had a nice record from Tristan Bantock on the 17th – a Tachina lurida, seen on Parkland Walk near Crouch Hill tube station. They look superficially like the slightly earlier Tachina ursina but they are slightly less hairy and they lack a white band on the front of tergite 5.

Tachina lurida, © Tristan Bantock, 2012

We’re also getting plenty of reports of Gymnocheta viridis on the wing in the UK – usually seen sunning themselves on fence posts and tree trunks.

Gymnocheta viridis, © Chris Raper, 2011

For a while the government has been concerned to improve biological recording capacity in the UK and, with the support of Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and [...]]]> It has been a hectic and exciting start to 2012 for the recording scheme, with the recent good news that we had won funding from Natural England!!

For a while the government has been concerned to improve biological recording capacity in the UK and, with the support of Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Natural England they set up the Fund for biological recording in the voluntary sector. It was to this fund that we applied.

Our application had to be submitted in quite a hurry because the deadlines were tight but, thanks to some great help from our friends at the BRC in Wallingford, we managed to make the deadline and were one of under 40 applicants to be successful!

The funding has been given for the purchase of a new Leica S8APO microscope with lights and camera adapters so that we will be able to produce deep-focus photographs of key tachinid structures as well as tutorials on various aspects of entomology. The first articles have been published in the ‘Tutorials’ menu so keep checking back for more in the coming months.

Anyway, here it is – isn’t she a beauty!?

In these photos the camera adapters haven’t been fitted because at the time of writing I am waiting for a few extra tubes to be sent to achieve parfocality with the eyepieces. But you can see the port emerging from the top of the microscope. My trusty Meiji EMZ sits to the left and, with its slightly deeper working distance (90mm instead of 75mm on the Leica), will still be used for sorting malaise trap catches etc.

I always orient myself by looking for the smallest vertical vein called r-m, the little one in the middle – it links the last true radial vein (r4+5) to the median. The median vein is [...]]]> This is a photograph of a Tachina grossa wing, annotated to show the commonest features that are used in the keys:

I always orient myself by looking for the smallest vertical vein called r-m, the little one in the middle – it links the last true radial vein (r4+5) to the median. The median vein is probably the most important in tachinids because it often bends in different ways and either joins or doesn’t join r4+5. If the median vein joins r4+5 before the wing edge then it forms a small stalk called the petiole (not on this photo). Sometimes the bend has a little stalk (appendix – not in this photo) or crease that extends towards the wing margin. If you go up from r4+5 the next radial is r2+3 and these 2 veins meet together, near the body, at another important areas called the node. The node has varying numbers of hairs on it and sometimes these hairs extend along r4+5 towards or even beyond r-m. Above r2+3 you will see r1 and then to the left sc, the sub-costal vein. Along the leading edge is the costal vein (annotated in sections – CSx) – these sections are of varying relative lengths and this can be important. The last section (CS6) extends to a notional point that is the tip of the wing. Below the median vein the next radial is called the cubital vein and it is linked to the median by m-cu. The point where m-cu joins the median is important in some species, as is the length of the section of the cubital beyond m-cu. The final vein that is of interest to us is the anal vein – we are usually just asked to see whether it extends to the edge of the wing, but watch out – make sure that it isn’t just a crease that meets the wing edge!