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New publication ‘Type material of Asilidae (Diptera) described by Jason Londt in the Natural History Museum’ by myself & Digitising the NHM Peter Wing 328 type specimens from 103 species (6% of the total Afro-tropical fauna) Pensoft African Invertebrates NHM Diptera africaninvertebrates.pensoft.net/article/103087/

I remember collecting my first Bittacus as an undergrad and being amazed by them at the time. 21 years later, we've described a #newspecies. Part of a tribute to Dr Jason Londt, the leader of Afrotropical Mecoptera research. Terence Bellingan KwaZulu-Natal Museum African Invertebrates Pensoft

A rare hover fly genus that I've been privileged to see on a few occasions in 🇿🇦, output from the #DIPoDIP project, funded by the Belgian DGD through the The AfricaMuseum. Part of a tribute to Dr Jason Londt in African Invertebrates. KwaZulu-Natal Museum Pensoft Terence Bellingan #diptera #flies

It was an honor and a privilege to be an editor of and contributor to this Festschrift, Jason has inspired many people in entomology and beyond, including me.

🎉This introduction includes a summary of Dr Londt's life and career, an overview of the articles in the Festschrift, lists of his scientific and popular publications, and a list of species named after him: doi.org/10.3897/afrinv… #JasonLondtFestschrift

Spending #flyfriday at the National Museum in Bloemfontein with Burgert Muller working through a few 1000 flies from Lesotho. With a bit of special focus on the Atherimorpha latipennis (Rhagionidae), busy describing the female for the first time. #diptera #flies #fly

Тhe first description of the female of Amphoterus braunsi, redescription of the males of A. braunsi and A. cribratus, and description of a #NewSpecies, A. londti: doi.org/10.3897/afrinv… #JasonLondtFestschrift #Diptera

A tough day of collecting on #flyFriday but better than a day in the office! Low numbers at Pobe Forest (Benin) but got an interesting looking Graptomyza. Let hope for better weather tomorrow! #diptera #flies #fieldWork

What do you call a fly without wings? OK, it's got little stubby wings, but a fly that can't fly is still pretty cool! High altitude (>3000m) habitats make for strange adaptations!

#flyfriday with a difference: starting my trip to #ICDX to present some of our research, but visiting USNM first to study the #diptera collections. Quite the size difference between my planes today...

#flyfriday at the NMNH_Entomology colections. A week of digging through the collections has been really productive. A bit of confirmation work needed, but it looks like 8 undescribed species. Thanks to Smithsonian NMNH and the Sabrosky fund for covering the costs for my stay in DC!

A great little grouo of #flies for #flyfriday, and on top of that we have another new species sonce printing the poster! But Genevieve Theron is more organized than I am. It was up at #ICDX but I forgot to take a photo. Maximizing viewership with tactical reuse!

A big two weeks for me, which has left me humbled. I was elected Vice President of the entsocsa last week and the Afrotropical representative and Secretary/Treasurer of the Council of International Congresses of Dipterology this week at #ICDX. Quite the #flyfriday for me!

After three weeks in the US, I'm heading home today. Spent time at #icdx but also visited four different collections, finding about 15 undescribed species. I'm ready for home now, but it has been a great trip! #diptera #flies #syrphidae #hoverflies

Finding bizarre creatures like this is just part of the job...

For those who want the more formal write up...

Fresh off the (figurative) press, we've opened a new special collection on the #Diptera of Lesotho, a diverse and understudied part of the world! Our editors John Midgley and Burgert Muller give it a nice welcome on the Pensoft blog. blog.pensoft.net/2023/09/18/the…

#FlyFriday in Tanzania, conducting training at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). Participants from 8 African countries are learning to collect and ID flies to family, with genus IDs next week.

Always great to have visitors studying our collection, after all, that's why we have them!

More news about the work I get up to, and I guess it shows that exploring without clear direction can still turn up interesting finds