Sam Thomas
Naturalist, botanist and entomologist. He/him.
England Officer @bsbibotany.bsky.social views my own
- Very exciting that this book is nearly here and even more so that among all the flies I'm also featured (tiny and blurry in the top left of the pic)
- Very exciting news for all Sphaeroceridae fans
- After being rather busy and after much procrastination, today I started on the outline for a new Sphaeroceridae key; this may take a while (a couple of years maybe)! Copromyzinae first, pic of Alloborborus pallifrons @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @sjthomasbotany.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Reposted by Sam Thomas[Not loaded yet]
- A dipterist's dipteron, the elusive Borboropsis puberula. The only member of the family in the UK. Restricted to the Scottish Highlands. This one from Ben Lawers is probably the 7th UK record. #Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- I'm speaking on #Chloropidae, trying to make a difficult and neglected group a little more accessible via a group-sourced Flickr photo library. Also looking forward to hearing the other speakers. www.flickr.com/groups/chlor...
- It's that time of year again, Dipterists Forum 'Dipterists Day & AGM' 🪰 Nov 14th 2025- a day in the Museum of Zoology, Cambridge Diptera collections Nov 15th 2025 - Dipterists Day and AGM For more details please go to dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte...
- I'm currently updating and making corrections to the Ephydridae key prepared for the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop. Please let me know if you've noticed any errors or anything that might need updating. Comments, DM or email to sjthomasbotanyATgmail.com please. #Diptera #entomology
- Reposted by Sam ThomasNew #GBRedList for vascular plants is published today by a team led by @bsbibotany.bsky.social with partners @naturalengland.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social @natreswales.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social @plantlifeintl.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social
- Empis digramma female #Empididae. A distinctive pale yellow species with short bristles and two stripes on the scutum. Frequent in the north of the UK. #Diptera #Entomology #insectphotography #inverts #bugsky #macro
- The very small #Chloropidae Pseudopachychaeta ruficeps swept this spring from alpine sedge flushes, Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers NNR. This species develops in the inflorescences of Eriophorum (Cottongrass) species. #Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Gonatherus planiceps female #Scathophagidae. A uncommonly collected, spring-flying, species of upland flushes and other wet habitats in the mountains. This one from Beinn Ghlas in the Ben Lawers NNR this May. #Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Reposted by Sam ThomasIt's not asylum seekers who jack up rents, undermine the NHS, hold down wages and keep people insecure. It's capital. The role of the far right is to shift the blame for decades of economic attacks by the rich and powerful onto powerless people who have only just arrived here.
- However you arrive in the UK you are welcome. People who are 'concerned about immigration' are racist. The government is at fault for poverty. Stop punching down.
- Reposted by Sam Thomas[Not loaded yet]
- Rock sea-lavenders from the Afon Crigyll Estuary Ynys Môn: Limonium recurvum subsp. crigyllensis (with rough scape) described in 2022 by Ivor Rees and only know from this site where it grows with the more widespread L. procerum (smooth scape). @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
- Hypopitys monotropa (Yellow Bird’s-nest) from an evening woodland walk. This is subspecies hypophegea which is completely glabrous, often delicate, yellowish with fewer flowers. Now is the time to check the subsp. ID of your local populations with Fred Rumsey's @bsbibotany.bsky.social News key.
- Scotland trip started on Skye: Koenigia islandica (Iceland-purslane) only just germinating and the weather too bad for Arabis alpina on the Cuillins. However, Ligusticum scoticum (Scots Lovage) was looking lovely at Armadale. 1/5 @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
- Just back from a mostly productive botany trip around western Scotland, still need to edit the plant photos so here's a delightful male Snow Bunting singing on the summit of Ben Nevis in the evening sunshine.
- Received the pdf of my paper adding Philotelma parvum to the UK list in the upcoming issue of Dipterists Digest. A rather obscure little Ephydridae (shore fly) collected from the New Forest, emphasising again the importance of New Forest mires for rare Diptera drive.google.com/file/d/1FCwH...
- Very unexpected & rare: Anticheta obliviosa female #Sciomyzidae from saltmarsh on Hayling Island, Hampshire. Previously known in the UK from fens around Huntingdon and singles from Cheshire and Yorkshire - all inland. Nice find for a quick evening sweep #ento #diptera @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Glenanthe sp. female from Hayling Island the other day. A very small saltmarsh #Ephydridae with distinctively 'upside down pear' shaped eyes. Likely G. ripicola but can't rule out G. fuscinervis without a male. #Diptera #ento #macro @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Almost forgot #WorldRobberFlyDay but luckily reminded by @flygirlnhm.bsky.social. Here's the puparium of Laphria flava (Bumblebee Robberfly) collected from a pine log in Abernethy Forest a few years back. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #diptera #ento #macro
- Chlorops varsoviensis a pNationally Scarce #Chloropidae of upland marshy areas. Now added to the (slowly) growing Chloropidae UK Flickr group. Please add any relevant identified photos or message me and I can help add them www.flickr.com/groups/14873... #diptera #ento @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Rhamphomyia maculipennis, a costal #Empididae with two dark marks on the wing in females, from Hayling Island today. #diptera #ento @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- Swift moth caterpillar-eye view of a female Alomya debellator wasp - a specialist parasitoid of root-feeding Hepialidae which it hunts in the caterpillar's underground burrow.
- Some exciting new ID webinars on tricky plant taxa I'm organising over the next few months
- A few pics of cranefly male terminalia from Ben Lawers last summer. Part of an occasional effort to produce decent images for these as I often find the line drawings in the book difficult to interpret.
- Scoliocentra flavotestacea female #Heleomyzidae from Creag an Lochain, Ben Lawers last summer. An uncommon species according to @suillia.bsky.social great ID resources available here: dipterists.org.uk/heleomyzid-s...
- Reposted by Sam ThomasWe're proud to be 1 of 10 UKTEPoP partners who today published a joint statement pledging our commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion in UK species monitoring schemes: jncc.gov.uk/our-work/ukt... We need to better understand how biodiversity loss is impacting under-recorded areas & communities.
- Flip-Flop taking his #NewYearPlantHunt 2025 Support Team role very seriously this morning - at the ready to identify any tricky plant finds @bsbibotany.bsky.social
- First great crested newts of many with @ecologybydesign
- Entomology day at Iffley interrupted by fritillaries
- Collecting possible Taraxacum anglicum at Yarton. One to send to @BSBIbotany referee.
- Roe deer carcass, Yarton, Thanatophilus sinuatus, T. rugosus, Omosita discoidea, Sphaeridium scarabaeoides #Silphidae with @harrow_matthew
- midland hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) in full flower vs common h.thorn (C. monogyna) in bud on survey nr Reading today @ecologybydesign
- Aculops macrotrichus gall on Carpinus betulus? Nr Sharnbrook today #plantgall
- Leopard's-bane (Doronicum pardalianches) gone wild near Chinnor @ecologybydesign @BSBIbotany
- Eriophyes torminalis pustules on Sorbus torminalis @OBGHA #plantgall
- Dioctria oelandica, from 2006 the first specimen in my Diptera collection for #WorldRobberflyDay
