File: Great Southeast Pollinator Course; Week 6, Flies and Wasps
Date Corrected: July 28, 2026
Webinar Date: July 21, 2026 (Tuesday air date confirmed by Rich Braman, 2026-07-28)
Series: Great Southeast Pollinator Course
Topic: Entomology / Pollinator conservation (Diptera and Hymenoptera)
Speakers: Dr. Jason Schmidt (Associate Professor, University of Georgia, Tifton campus, arthropod ecology and trophic interactions); Dr. Scott Clem (Assistant Professor of Insect Ecology, Illinois State University; former UGA Entomology postdoc; dipterist, hoverflies); Gabrielle LaTora (Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent, UGA Extension, Fulton County, entomologist by training)
Moderator: Becky Griffin (UGA Extension, course host)
SOURCE VERIFICATION
- Original blocks: 282
- Corrected blocks: 282 ✓ MATCH CONFIRMED
- Time range: 00:00:05,339 to 01:20:45,579
- Runtime: ~81 minutes
- File reading: COMPLETE ✓ (all 282 blocks / 1,128 lines viewed)
- Coverage proof:
- Early [~09:12]: Schmidt uses Georgia’s lady beetles as a size-diversity example: the familiar large Harmonia at one end, species down to two millimeters at the other, with larvae most people would not recognize as lady beetles at all.
- Middle [~40:37]: Clem introduces hoverflies as “flying eyeballs,” about 6,200 species worldwide and roughly 250 in the Southeast, many of them migratory.
- Late [~1:09:36]: LaTora walks through Cotesia congregata on tomato and tobacco hornworms, female lays eggs inside the caterpillar, larvae tunnel out to spin cocoons, and tells gardeners to leave the caterpillar alone at that point.
Corrections Applied
Method: Corrections were applied by string replacement from the raw SRT so timestamp and sequence-number lines could not drift, then diffed against the raw file. An audio-verification pass on 2026-07-28 (Rich Braman against the recording) resolved six of the seven flagged fragments; those resolutions were applied the same way and the structure re-verified. Result: 72 individual string replacements total (66 first pass + 6 audio-verification pass) on text lines only. All 282 index lines and all 282 timestamp lines are byte-identical to the original, and the total line count (1,128) is unchanged.
Proper Nouns: Presenter Names
- “Gabriele La Torra” → “Gabrielle LaTora” (Block 6, Schmidt’s introduction of the third presenter)
- “Gabriella Torra” → “Gabrielle LaTora” (Block 190, Griffin’s introduction)
- “Dr. Scott Klim. Dr. Klim is an assistant professor” → “Dr. Scott Clem. Dr. Clem is an assistant professor” (Block 61, Griffin’s introduction; the surname is transcribed correctly everywhere else)
- “Dr. Klum said” → “Dr. Clem said” (Block 195, LaTora referring back to the fly talk; Blocks 200 and 257 were already correct)
- “Illinois State College” → “Illinois State University” (Block 6, Schmidt’s introduction; Clem himself names Illinois State University in Block 187 and Griffin does in Block 61)
Speaker Labels
- Block 271: label changed from “Becky Griffin” to “Gabrielle LaTora”; the line “Yes, hornets are a small group of wasps.” is LaTora answering Griffin’s question from Block 270. This is the only single-speaker block whose label could be corrected without splitting a segment; see Mixed-Speaker Blocks below.
Scientific Names and Taxonomy
- “order of diphthora” → “order Diptera” (Block 68)
- “geocorus functopis” → “Geocoris punctipes” (Block 36; big-eyed bug, Schmidt’s life-stage example)
- “in the hymenoptera” → “in the Hymenoptera” (Block 50)
- “the nematocera. So nematocera are” → “the Nematocera. So Nematocera are” (Block 102)
- “dependent on nematocer and other” → “dependent on nematoceran and other” (Block 112)
- “this is Cessidomyidae is the family” → “this is Cecidomyiidae is the family” (Block 106, gall midges)
- “the lower brachisera” → “the lower Brachycera” (Block 114)
- “Laura Burkissar can also include” → “Lower Brachycera can also include” (Block 117, the group name garbled into a person’s name)
- “the Midas fly” → “the mydas fly” (Block 117, Mydidae)
- “the next one is colypterate flies” → “…calyptrate flies” (Block 125)
- “these are the acolyptorates” → “these are the acalyptrates” (Block 137)
- “So acolypterates … an acolypterate versus a clypterate … with a clypterate … called a clyptera … defines clypterate flies … acolypterate flies don’t have that” → “So acalyptrates … an acalyptrate versus a calyptrate … with a calyptrate … called a calypter … defines calyptrate flies … acalyptrate flies don’t have that” (Block 138, five variants of the calypter/calyptrate family in a single block)
- “Most eucalyptorates” → “Most acalyptrates” (Block 145)
- “subfamily surfinae” → “subfamily Syrphinae” (Block 151)
- “garden variety surfids” → “garden-variety syrphids” (Block 151)
- “Toxomeras geminatus” → “Toxomerus geminatus” (Block 152)
- “E. p.o.s. Americanis” → “Eupeodes americanus” (Block 152, the common fall hoverfly)
- “tiny Toxomeras species” → “tiny Toxomerus species” (Block 152)
- “the surfine hoverflies” → “the syrphine hoverflies” (Block 153)
- “subfamily Aristolani” → “subfamily Eristalinae” (Block 156)
- “the Aristoline hoverflies” → “the eristaline hoverflies” (Block 173)
- “Spilemya longicornis” → “Spilomyia longicornis” (Block 158, yellowjacket mimic)
- “Aerostolus 10X” → “Eristalis tenax” (Block 158, the drone fly)
- “species, Zylota here” → “species, Xylota here” (Block 166)
- “corpse flower here, rafflesia” → “corpse flower here, Rafflesia” (Block 90)
- “suborder Apocryta” → “suborder Apocrita” (Block 197)
- “kingdom animalia … phylum arthropoda … class insecta” → “kingdom Animalia … phylum Arthropoda … class Insecta” (Block 196)
- “the family vespidae” → “the family Vespidae” (Block 220, two instances)
- “like our ichnomonids” → “like our ichneumonids” (Block 241)
- “called Cotija congregata” → “called Cotesia congregata” (Block 243)
- “by the Coteja wasp” → “by the Cotesia wasp” (Block 267)
Technical Terms
- “that is maya, meaning fly, and phylos, meaning” → “that is myia, meaning fly, and philos, meaning” (Block 78, Clem’s Greek etymology of myophily)
- “specialized myophilia” → “specialized myophily” (Block 88, matched to “generalized myophily” in Block 87)
- “myophilus plants” → “myophilous plants” (Block 89)
- “are anthophyllus” → “are anthophilous” (Block 100)
- “also known as flowerflies” → “also known as flower flies” (Block 148)
- “parasitic bristleflies” → “parasitic bristle flies” (Block 134, tachinids)
- “So they mold, they grow” → “So they molt, they grow” (Block 39)
- “you need a dissecting skill” → “you need a dissecting scope” (Block 240; the world’s smallest insect, a parasitoid wasp)
- “the grass carrying wasps” → “the grass-carrying wasps” (Block 233)
- “Threats to Polynear Abundance and Diversity” → “Threats to Pollinator Abundance and Diversity” (Block 187, the book carrying Clem’s forthcoming chapter)
Grammar
- “this narrow, quote unquote, waste.” → “…waist.” (Block 198)
- “It’s not really a waste because” → “It’s not really a waist because” (Block 199)
- “insects don’t have a waste, but” → “insects don’t have a waist, but” (Block 199)
- “cool stuff with ovipositor.” → “cool stuff with ovipositors.” (Block 210)
- “over millennium.” → “over millennia.” (Block 240)
Garbled ASR Fragment
- Block 51: “VARIES VAR” → “varies.” The block is a two-word all-caps artifact whose timestamp (00:15:49) also falls out of sequence with the block that follows it (00:15:35). It completes Schmidt’s sentence from Block 50 about wing venation varying across taxa. No content was added and the timestamp was left untouched.
Resolved on Audio-Verification Pass (2026-07-28)
Six of the seven flagged fragments were confirmed against the recording by Rich Braman and corrected in the SRT (approximate video timestamps given):
- Block 16 [~03:55]: “the Mercier Farms in North Georgia” → “the Mercier Orchards in North Georgia” (Blue Ridge, GA, the large apple orchard with agritourism Schmidt describes).
- Block 20 [~04:52]: “this poster produced by the pollinator habitat network” → “…produced by the Pollinator Partnership” (Griffin and Schmidt identify the source as pollinator.org two blocks later).
- Block 53 [~15:52]: “labeled MAVs, and this is micro adaptations to flight” → “labeled MAVs, and this is micro air vehicles.”
- Block 151 [~41:14]: “Toximeris homogenatus” → “Toxomerus marginatus”: the common companion to the T. geminatus Clem names in the next block. Note: the genus came from context and the species epithet from Rich’s review rather than from an unambiguous audio read; revisit if the slide is available.
- Block 151 [~41:14]: “a lot of pallet pollinator observations” → “a lot of pellet pollinator observations.”
- Block 212 [~1:00:19]: “And I’ve got two categories with these ovipositor.” → “And I’ve got two categories with these different terms I’m going to talk about.” Block 213 (“So first we’re going to talk about social versus solitary wasps.”) was already correct and was not touched.
Flagged for Verification: Still Open
- Block 36 [~09:29]: “and that skimness”, unclear word in Schmidt’s description of the smallest lady beetles and their larvae. No reading proposed; the
[VERIFY]flag stays in the SRT until someone catches it on the recording.
Noted, Not Changed
- Block 164 [~44:25], “news fly”: Clem calls the Virginia giant hoverfly (Milesia virginiensis) the “news fly” twice and tells the porch-sitting story behind the name. The name usually appears in print as news bee or good news bee, but the transcription is internally consistent and matches his delivery, so the text was left as spoken. Worth a listen on the audio pass.
- Master Gardener volunteer first names (Block 192–193, ~54:15): Anne, Chris, Caroline, Jean, Kelly, Shirley, and Valda. Spellings are unverified but low-risk; no correction applied.
- Mixed-speaker blocks: ten blocks contain two speakers under one label, so the label cannot be fixed without splitting a segment (prohibited). Blocks 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 191, 264, 266, 273, 280. Nine of the ten are handoffs or Q&A turns where the question and the answer share a block. Derived deliverables (especially a Stage 5 prose transcript) should attribute these by content, not by the SRT label.
SRT Format Compliance
✅ All timestamps preserved exactly as original (diff confirmed byte-identical)
✅ All sequence numbers maintained (282 index lines identical)
✅ Blank lines between segments preserved
✅ Maximum 2 lines per subtitle segment maintained
✅ No segments merged or split
✅ Block count: 282 original = 282 corrected ✓
✅ Line count: 1,128 original = 1,128 corrected ✓
Total Corrections: 72 individual string replacements (66 first pass + 6 audio-verification pass); 1 [VERIFY] flag remains open
Processing: Complete file (282 subtitle blocks, 1,128 lines)
New Whisper Patterns for the Course Reference
Worth adding to the README’s Pollinator / Native-Bee Correction Patterns table:
| Whisper Output | Correct Form |
|---|---|
| diphthora | Diptera |
| nematocera / nematocer | Nematocera / nematoceran |
| brachisera / Laura Burkissar | Brachycera / Lower Brachycera |
| colypterate / clypterate / clyptera | calyptrate / calypter |
| acolyptorates / acolypterate / eucalyptorates | acalyptrates / acalyptrate |
| Cessidomyidae | Cecidomyiidae |
| surfinae / surfids / surfine | Syrphinae / syrphids / syrphine |
| Aristolani / Aristoline | Eristalinae / eristaline |
| Aerostolus 10X | Eristalis tenax (drone fly) |
| Spilemya longicornis | Spilomyia longicornis |
| Toxomeras / Toximeris | Toxomerus |
| E. p.o.s. Americanis | Eupeodes americanus |
| Zylota | Xylota |
| geocorus functopis | Geocoris punctipes |
| Cotija congregata / Coteja | Cotesia congregata / Cotesia |
| ichnomonids | ichneumonids |
| Apocryta | Apocrita |
| maya / phylos (in myophily etymology) | myia / philos |
| myophilia / myophilus | myophily / myophilous |
| anthophyllus | anthophilous |
| Midas fly | mydas fly (Mydidae) |
| waste (the wasp “waist”) | waist |
| dissecting skill | dissecting scope |
| Klim / Klum | Clem |
| Gabriele La Torra / Gabriella Torra | Gabrielle LaTora |
| Mercier Farms | Mercier Orchards |
| pollinator habitat network | Pollinator Partnership |
| micro adaptations to flight | micro air vehicles (MAVs) |
| pallet (in “pellet pollinator observations”) | pellet |
New People for the Course Roster
- Dr. Jason Schmidt: Associate Professor, University of Georgia, Tifton campus. Works on arthropod ecology and trophic interactions (“who’s eating what in your garden and why does it matter”), using DNA extraction and PCR on field samples to resolve food webs and pollen loads. Partners with solar producers, blueberry growers, and Mercier’s apple orchard on habitat enhancement for biodiversity provisioning. (confirmed Week 6, Flies and Wasps)
- Dr. Scott Clem: Assistant Professor of Insect Ecology, Illinois State University; former postdoc in the UGA Department of Entomology. A dipterist whose lab works on the ecology, behavior, and biodiversity of beneficial insects with an emphasis on hoverflies; author of a new guide to common hoverflies of Georgia and a forthcoming chapter, “The Unsung Heroes: The Importance of Flies in Wild and Domesticated Pollination,” in Threats to Pollinator Abundance and Diversity. (confirmed Week 6; note the affiliation: the Week 5 close announced him as “University of Illinois,” which the Week 6 transcript corrects)
- Gabrielle LaTora: Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent, UGA Extension, Fulton County (Atlanta plus 17 other municipalities). Entomologist by training; works with farms and gardens across metro Atlanta and with Fulton County Master Gardener volunteers, who are hosting census counting events Saturday, August 22, 2026. (confirmed Week 6, Flies and Wasps)
Correction summary produced for UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / Great Southeast Pollinator Course · gsepc.org
Source: Raw SRT, “Pollinator Course Week Six_ Flies and Wasps.srt” (282 blocks)