Summer 2022 - Higher groups of Diptera (plus planning for the future)
Dear attendees,
Our meetings in the future are going to be a little different. Instead of focusing on a different species or distinction each week, we will dedicate many meetings to each group.
For example, we have decided that for the entire summer (late May, June, July, and some of August), we will focus on learning the higher levels of Diptera, meaning distinguishing between Brachycera and Nematocera, and then certain groups within Brachycera, like Acalyptratae and Calyptratae.
We will not be having new videos for each session. We will spend some time at the beginning of each session discussing the topic, and then set aside about 30 minutes or less at the end strictly for identifying and asking questions.
In future sessions, we plan to invite others to lead some meetings on insect taxa of their choice (particularly flies), and I encourage you all to volunteer to do this. I, Zachary, would be happy to assist you in researching the taxa of your choice.
Only for meetings which I lead: those of you who wish to be more serious identifiers will sign up for me to review your identifications of the taxon after the meeting has ended and for the next few days, to provide feedback. TBD: Some sort of minimum # of identifications for this system.
I, Zachary, will continue making videos, just not weekly. They will be posted whenever I have free time, and I will make a journal post for each one so that you all will be notified.
I encourage you to join the emailing list by clicking anywhere on this sentence and filling in the sign-up form.
We take your feedback very seriously, and any suggestions are immensely appreciated. These meetings are still a rather recent initiative, so we are always working to improve them.
That said, we're happy to announce another online meeting this week! Here are the details:
The Zoom meeting will open at 8 PM EDT on Sunday the 29th.
Join the Zoom Meeting here: Meeting Link
Meeting ID: 874 5687 3015
Passcode: diptera
Resources to use for this meeting:
Guides to the higher clades and families of Diptera
What we'll be identifying:
This video will give you some background to what we will be learning about:
(You can open the video in a new tab by clicking on the YouTube icon.)
Kommentit
Please read the entire post if you are planning on attending anytime this summer.
@aaron567 @adamkohl @aispinsects @amy_harmon @amyjaecker-jones @angelpeach @ariellopezpics @bobnieman @carnifex @carol-in-maine @carrieseltzer @catherine_g @ccburke @cecildomyiidae @cherrielee @coolcrittersyt @cosmophasis @daniel_schelesky @davidemartin @dbarber @doviende @driftlessroots @ebirding @edanko @emendela @erikamitchell @friesen5000 @hitchco @idat51 @judya @keimwj @komalt1 @malisaspring @mdreb @melinda_k @mmmmbugs @mmulqueen @musellarose @navin_sasikumar @ozarkpoppy @patsimpson2000 @pbedell @pei-ott @radbackedsalamander @rodolfosalinas @sambiology @scotiaspinner @sherylsr @smellyturkey @spellecchias @steve432king @swampass @taogirl @upupa-epops @velodrome @victorengel @vkord @walkingstick2 @wendyjegla @whateverwatcher @zdanko
I recently found this key, which I think is very nice, if it's accurate.
https://nasmus.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Suricata-4-12-KEY-TO-DIPTERA-FAMILIES-ADULTS-low-resolution_Part1.pdf
@victorengel That is the key to families of Diptera in the Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. The key is accurate, but sadly unusable for the average photo on iNaturalist, due to its use of microscopic characters and wing venation.
@zdanko I'm really looking forward to learning to tell the different groups of Brachycera apart. Thanks so much for continuing to do this.
@zdanko I kinda want to do one on robber flies but idk nearly enough
I would love to attend this but will be performing at a wedding with my string quartet. (How's that for an excuse :)
Well, you must set priorities. :)
Ha!
Oh no! I mixed up my days and completely missed this. And unlike Paul, I have no excuse.
Lisää kommentti