Twelve Syrphs of Christmas! Ready to go...

Hello Everyone,

Hope your preparations for the Christmas holiday are going swimmingly. A few weeks ago I suggested this activity - identify the 2023 observations of a different genus each day over the Christmas period - so that we could have a go at learning and identifying a variety of things. As preparation in the meantime I suggested we identify things that are stuck above genus level to fill up the different genera. Since then the number of observations stuck above genus has fallen by just over a third, which is great!

I've set this up so that you can theoretically choose one different genus each day. Each day has four 'pots' from which to choose that one genus. (I mean, don't let me stop you doing more than one genus if you want!). I have indicated in italics which genera I consider to be more straightforward, and in bold which genera I think are particularly difficult. (Straightforward in this context might mean that many species are unidentifiable and it is easy to tell when you should leave it at genus - it does not necessarily mean that all the species are easy to identify precisely).

I want to stress that this is not necessarily about completely erasing the 2023 pile. It is about trying to learn something new. It would be very counterproductive if we identified a lot of things incorrectly in a rush for numbers, and it would cause some frustration at the HRS: much better to take your time and do what you are comfortable with, ask questions of these people (but without spamming any one individual!) where you are not sure or want to query something. It doesn't matter if we do not identify everything.

There are still nearly 1000 observations above genus - so do feel free to have a go at those instead if that is more useful to you. It will help fill up the pots that other people are identifying. I think many of them are either Platycheirus or Melanostoma from a quick glance.

I have organised the pots so that each day the total number of observations from all four pots that we would need to complete to eradicate the 2023 pile is in the region of 3-400. That is not so that we aim for that number (as I said above), but just to spread the potential fairly evenly over the 12 days. If a big genus (e.g. Syrphus) is exhausted before its last day, we can move onto the next one in the pot, but I think it would be a good idea not to randomly jump ahead, so that others will still have a variety to choose from come 12th night!

Dip in and out as you feel inclined! (I mean, you may have other things to do at Christmas!)

When identifying a particular genus from a group, do be sure to check that you can distinguish that genus from others. It's important to check that the genus is correct before trying to identify the species!

Here is a link, just replace 'Syrphidae' with your taxon of choice!

Do keep an eye on the resources page, because if I can I'll add some things there before they come up.

Happy Seasonal Syrphing!

(Two unrelated things I'd like to note: firstly our intrepid annotators have now added life stage annotations to every UK observation (except the few old RGs with obscured locations that were excluded for causing problems - please don't do them!). A fabulous acheivement - carry on at that rate and they could do the whole world by the end of March!

Second: who will get the first hoverfly observation of the new year I wonder!?)

Posted on December 21, 2023 09:31 PM by matthewvosper