Blackberries

Blackberries, Rubus sp.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-10-09.

Platypezid Fly

On a damp, overcast day in mid-summer I came across this tiny fly doing a frantic random walk over the surface of a leaf.  I think it was probably a Platypezid fly (Diptera: Platypezidae).  Most Platypezid flies have slightly enlarged tarsi on their hind legs, but my photos are not clear enough to show these, so I have based my tentative identification on the wing venation pattern being similar to that shown here.  The larvae of Platypezid flies grow in fungi.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-19.

A Black Fly

A particularly ugly black fly, possibly an Anthomyid, or maybe a Muscid, I am not sure. I was only able to get one photo before it flew away.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-10.

Microsoft Stealth Add-on Introduces Vulnerability to Firefox

Back in August I mentioned that if you installed Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 then a .NET Framework Assistant Firefox add-on was silently installed as well.  At the time I thought it rather dubious that Microsoft should think it OK to install stuff into a rival's browser without any indication that this was happening.  Well, it looks as if those doubts were not unreasonable.  This afternoon I got the following pop-up message from Firefox:

It turns out that the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant introduces a vulnerabilty into Firefox, and the Mozilla team have decided to disable it.  For more details see here and here.

Cynipid Wasps

Following on from blue Ormyrid wasps and green Torymid wasps on knopper galls, we now have brown Cynipid wasps on knopper galls.  Comparison with photos here and here shows a good match with Synergus reinhardi but, to be on the safe side, I will tentatively identify it as Synergus sp. (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) for the time being.

These wasps lay their eggs in the knopper gall but, unlike they Ormyrid and Torymid wasps, their larvae do not attack the resident gall-causing larvae directly, they just occupy the same cavity.  Organisms that practice this benign form of parasitism are termed inquilines.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-10-04.