The Tanyptera Project

18/05/2026

🌿 Coming up in June!

We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Joe Botting for a two‑day workshop delving into the fascinating world of Jumping Plant Lice (Psyllids).

📍 Day 1 – World Museum: Get to grips with Psyllid ecology and identification through talks, demonstrations, and hands‑on time in the entomology lab.

📍 Day 2 – Rixton Clay Pits: Head into the field to practise your new ID skills, and see these insects in their natural environment.

Whether you're new to Psyllids or looking to expand your knowledge, this workshop offers a rare chance to learn from a leading expert.

👉 More info & booking:
https://www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/event/psyllids/

07/05/2026

🪰 Exciting discovery on the dunes

A return visit to Hightown has revealed not one, but 71 specimens of a fly species new to Britain!

Read the latest update on the fascinating “Hightown Fly” here:

Last year during a Tanyptera Project recording day on the Hightown dunes between Formby and Crosby I caught a bristly black fly which on examination under the microscope turned out to be a species new... Read more »

05/05/2026

🪲 Join us at our upcoming Invertebrate Recording Day at Risley Moss on Friday 15th May 🕷️

These days are focused on getting out in the field and collecting biological records.

🌿 Explore the habitats on site
📊 Contribute valuable records
🤝 Record alongside others with an interest invertebrates

Everyone is welcome - whether you’re new to recording or highly experienced! 📋🔍

📅 Places are limited — book your spot here:

Risley Moss Nature Reserve Invertebrate Recording Day – Risley Moss, Fri 15 May 2026 - Risley Moss is an 82-hectare Local Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Warrington, featuring lowland raised bog, woodlands, and meadows. It is also the only known site in Cheshire w...

23/04/2026

🪰 New Diptera resource now online! 🪰

The Complete Diptera of Lancashire and Cheshire by Phil Brighton is now available. Updated to the end of 2025, this landmark work provides the first fully comprehensive account of the flies of the region, covering vice-counties 58, 59 and 60, and bringing together more than a century of recording effort.

👉 Blog: https://www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/major-regional-diptera-resource-goes-online/

👉 Full document: https://www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/document/the-complete-diptera-of-lancashire-and-cheshire/

📷Mallota cimbiciformis (c) Pete Kinsella

22/04/2026

🪰 Robberflies of the Sefton Coast

New article by Phil Smith & Pete Kinsella showcasing the Asilidae recorded on the Sefton Coast - with photos, species accounts and recent discoveries.

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Many of the 29 species of robberflies (Asilidae) known to occur in Britain and Ireland show a preference for dry, well-drained soils, coastal dunes being a favoured habitat (Falk et al., 2026). Smith & Kinsella... Read more »

21/04/2026

🪵 New regional checklist released!

A provisional checklist of Barkflies (Psocoptera) for Cheshire & Lancashire by Keith Fowler is now available via North West Invertebrates. This is the first checklist for this under-recorded group in the region, bringing together records from museums, recording schemes, local record centres, iRecord and the NBN Atlas.

👉 Download it here:

Psococerastis gibbosa – (c) David Williams Summary This document presents a provisional checklist of barkflies (Psocoptera) recorded in Cheshire and Lancashire (VC58,59,60). It is the first checklist for the region covering this order of insects.... Read more »

20/04/2026

🐝 New blog out now 🐝

Our recent blog, written by Chloe Aldridge, takes a closer look at the bees and wasps recorded from vane traps at Leighton Hall and Hyning Priory in 2025. The findings highlight a varied bee and wasp fauna and provide useful new data for regional recording.

Read it here 👇
🔗

Vane trapping was carried out by the Tanyptera Project on two sites, Leighton Hall and Hyning Priory, in the Morecambe Bay area of North Lancashire (VC60) during spring and summer 2025, primarily targeting saproxylic insects.... Read more »

20/03/2026

🪰 Not just House Flies!

Join Mike Ashworth for an intro to British Muscidae on 27 April, 7:30 - 9:00pm

👉 Book now: https://www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/event/muscidwebinar/

30/01/2026

A new wasp species has been found in the Entomology collections of World Museum! 🐝

A new species of parasitic wasp was recently discovered in the pinned insect collections at World Museum. The specimen, a female ichneumon wasp (also known as Darwin Wasps), was collected by Entomology associate Mike Taylor on the Greek Island of Chios in 1998. Mike kindly donated the specimen to the museum, along with several thousand other invertebrates.

A recent study by Swedish entomologist Dr. Niklas Johansson enabled Curator of Entomology Tony Hunter to recognise the species as undescribed and collaborate with Dr. Johansson on its description.

The species was named Lissonota ardentis, a nod to its reddish colour pattern (ardere is Latinised Greek for glow, burn). The Holotype female the single known representative of the species, is stored at World Museum.

Darwin wasps are a large and relatively understudied group of parasitic insects, also known as parasitoids. Parasitoids use other invertebrates (often butterflies and moths) as food for their own larva, killing the ‘host’ in the process. They can be used as biocontrol agents, reducing our reliance on pesticides in agricultural systems.