The Tachinid Recording Scheme is quite informal - no-one is in
charge and we have no membership. Instead we just work together,
sharing out the work and exchanging information on a regular basis.
Saying that, each of us has our own specialities:
Chris Raper ( ):
I field a lot of the identifications and I maintain this web
site. I am an amateur entomologist and am definitely not an
’expert’ on the group but I am learning fast and I can call
on others to help with determinations of unusual material if
necessary. After years of studying lepidoptera, I discovered
’serious’ entomology (i.e. where microscopes & keys are
necessary for most identifications) in 1998. Since then I have
concentrated on parasitic Diptera & Hymenoptera but also
dabble in some other groups too.
Matt Smith ( ):
Also fields IDs and we usually cross-check each other’s dets.
He maintains the main copy of our recording database and produces
our distribution maps using DMAP. Matt’s occupation is as a
professional entomological surveyor, specialising in Hymenoptera,
Diptera and fresh-water invertebrates - though there aren’t
many of the major groups that he won’t have a good crack at.
Web Links
The following links are some sites you may find interesting and
useful in the study of Tachinidae and other Diptera:
The European diptera.info forum is an excellent group for chatting about flies and posting your photos for identification.
Fauna Europea - where you can learn about the distribution of all European wildlife.
A UK grid-reference converter - very useful if you only have a post-code or are converting between National Grid and Landranger etc.
Tachinid
Times - the best dedicated site on the web. Articles, bibiography
and contact details for entomologists working on Tachinidae around
the world
Professor
E.F. Legner’s page on tachinid taxonomy at the University
of California, Riverside. He is Professor of Biological Control Entomology
and his article covers the biology and taxonomy of the Tachinidae
in great detail. Go to his link ’Insect Predators & Parasites’
then scroll down to Tachinidae.
The Diptera
site - a really good starting point for all things to do with Diptera