Article by Liam Taylor | Data Manager | The Beautiful Burial Ground Project

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Bee-flies are familiar springtime insects, often seen hovering over flowers such as primroses, and using their long proboscis to feed on nectar. They are rather cute and cuddly looking flies! However, their life-cycle is not entirely benign, as they lay their eggs near the nest burrows of solitary mining bees, and the bee-fly larvae make their way into the bees' nests, where the bee-fly takes over the nest and feeds on its contents.

2019 is International Year of the Fly, with lots of events and activities planned. To find out more, go to the new Dipterists Forum website, which has been developed and hosted by BRC in partnership with Dipterists Forum. There is plenty of #YearoftheFly activity from the Diptera recording schemes as well. 

Programme

Click on the links below to see the presentations and reports from discussions

Earlier in November BRC organised a meeting of sawfly recorders, to share ideas about how we can support the existing national recording scheme to further interest in, and recording of, sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta). This was held at the Angela Marmont Centre of the Natural History Museum, and also served to celebrate the launch of a new NHM guide to sawflies in genus Tenthredo.