Connected on 2007-10-04 11:30:00
from Yarmouth, ME, US
- 11:27 am
- Bugscope Teamhi YES, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamhi YES
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready for you, presets are on your bottom right. go ahead and start practicing if you want to.
- Bugscope TeamLet us know if you have any questions or need any help.
- TeacherHi, we're on, the clas will be with you in 2 minutes
- Bugscope TeamYou should see chat, of course, and you should see the head of an ant
- TeacherThis is Cathy, yes I see both
- Bugscope Teamcool!
- Bugscope TeamYou should also see that you have controls to the upper right and presets to the lower right
- Bugscope Teamand you are welcome to try them out
- TeacherI tried focus and adjust. We're telling the class what they are seeing. Is this one of our samples?
- Bugscope TeamThe ant you sent did not fare so well, so we used one of ours
- Bugscope Teamtry changing the mag.
- Bugscope Teambut we still have the rolypoly and the thing clinging to the grass on here
- Bugscope Teamthe ant has something in its jaws
- 11:32 am
- Bugscope Teamexcellent moving to the jaw cathy, you are doing great!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see how the jaws are hinged like a gate
- TeacherClare asks, Do you know what is in the jaws?
- Bugscope TeamI looked earlier and could not tell what it might be
- Bugscope Teambut you are welcome to check it out
- Bugscope TeamI was hoping to find bacteria
- Bugscope Teamwhen you get close is when focus is helpful
- Bugscope Teamwell he was living in a jar with a lot of dirt and mulch so it is likely a piece of dirt
- TeacherWe learned that roly polys eat stones and concrete as part of their diet. Is it part of an ant's diet too?
Bugscope TeamOften ants don't directly eat what they collect. Instead they bring the food back to their nest and store it underground in dark, moist "farms" where it grows fungi which they later harvest and eat
- Bugscope TeamMaybe they have a gizzard like a bird.
- Bugscope TeamAnnie should know.
- TeacherAre we now looking at a part of the leg of the ant or another creature?
- Bugscope TeamBut I imagine they don't eat too much dirt and rocks and concrete
- Bugscope TeamAnts are generally omnivores, but I don't believe they are known to eat non-biological materials
- Bugscope Teamants have "busy" mouths, which make it seem they have another bug in their mouth
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the palps -- one of the modified limb segments that helps the ant feel and maybe taste its food
- 11:37 am
- Bugscope TeamThey may move rocks or concrete when they are tunneling, but I can't imagine they would eat them.
- Bugscope Teamyes as Cate says if you look at them face on, especially, they often seem to have another insect in their mouths
- TeacherIs the type of mouth we are looking at considered a "chomp & chew" mouth?
Bugscope TeamWe generally call these "chewing mouthparts"---chewing mouthparts are considered the most general form of insect mouthpart
- Bugscope Teampreset 7 shows the ant mouth
- Bugscope Teamso those little feeler like things are part of the ant's mouth
- Bugscope Teamgreat view of the jaws from the ventral side
- Bugscope TeamAnnie is an entomologist.
- TeacherWe're taking a minute to draw an observation of the chewing mouthparts
- Bugscope TeamRemember that you will always be able to access these images following your session, if you want.
- Bugscope TeamYou can also access the chat if you would like.
- TeacherWe learned the word Entomologist at the beginning of our unit. We are all entomologists
- 11:42 am
- Bugscope TeamSo if you drive around a lot, look at the various critters at different mags, you will build up a database of images.
- TeacherWe are wondering what Annie did to learn to be an entomologist?
Bugscope TeamI have an undergraduate degree in biology, then I went to graduate school and earned and masters degree in entomology and now I am working on my PhD
- Bugscope TeamI am working on my PhD in entomology
- Bugscope TeamYes, the chat and full-size images are available after the session from your member's homepage so it's advantageous to try and explore as much as possible during the session
- Bugscope TeamHere if you wanted you could take the mag down to see what the head is attached to.
- Bugscope Teamcathy, your entire session is being logged, pictures and chat, and will be available to you on your bugscope member page: http://bugscope.itg.uiuc.edu/members/2007-047
- Bugscope TeamAnnie will always be studying bugs in some way.
- Bugscope Teamyou can see one of the tiny hands there.
- Bugscope Teamhere you can see its arms and claws at the end
- Bugscope TeamThe background, with the little bubbles in it, is carbon doublestick tape.
- Bugscope TeamFor my research, I collect beetles all over the world. I have been to California, Arizona, Mexico, and Costa Rica to collect beetles.
- TeacherAre the antennae off to the sides of the mouth or in the middle?
Bugscope TeamThe antennae are on the top of the head, we cannot see the bases of them right now. The antenna-like things in the middle of the ant's head are mandibular and maxillary palps...which help the ant to taste.
- Bugscope TeamThe smoother parts of the background are where Cate, who prepared this sample, put silver paint down on the tape to make a better electrical connection to the ant here.
- Bugscope TeamThe antennae are above the mouth but we are upside down and it is hard to see that.
- Bugscope Teamthey do curl down on either side of the mouth
- 11:47 am
- Bugscope TeamThe electricity that flows through power cords is really just the flow of electrons. Because an electron microscope shoots a beam of electrons at the sample it must be conductive, like a power cord, to be able to get rid of the electricity instead of having it build up; thus the silver paint and carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the skinny little waist the ant has, like a wasp, and the abdomen below.
- Bugscope Teamthe samples are also coated with gold-palladium to help the excess electrons flow to ground
- TeacherThe segmented abdomen looks like a roly poly; we didn't know there would be segments and hairs
- Bugscope Teamthis is the abdomen -- the 'stomach' of the ant
- TeacherWhat kind of ant are we looking at?
Bugscope TeamAnts are difficult for me...I am not sure what kind this is.
- Bugscope Teamthere are often more hairs (setae) than we expect to see.
- Bugscope TeamYou can see how the abdomen appears to be layered. This is the same reason a knight's armor comes in many layered pieces. The exoskeleton is stiff, like the metal armor, so to bend or flex you need to have jointed or layered pieces
- TeacherWhat's the purpose of the hair on the abdomen?
Bugscope TeamThe hairs, which are more appropriately called setae, help the ant to sense its environment. The hairs are connected to the insects nervous system, and communicate all sorts of information about the ant's surroundings.
- Bugscope Teaminsects are a lot hairier than you would think
- Bugscope Teammuch of the hair, called setae, is used to help the insect sense its environment through the chitin
- Bugscope Teamsure!
- Bugscope Teamthey use them to sense the environment around them since they have those tough exoskeletons
- Bugscope Teamyou can always go back if you want
- TeacherWere we looking at hairs or spider webs on the palps?
- Bugscope Teamyou are actually controlling the microscope
- Bugscope Teamprobably just tiny setae, although we can easily see spider webs
- TeacherWe can't see the pictures in the preset area, This was below the ant mouth. I don't know what else we can view.
Bugscope Teamcathy, try to expand your browser to the full screen, then you should see the presets...
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the claw of the ladybug, and below the claw, to the right, are tons of tenent setae.
- 11:53 am
- TeacherI did...
- Bugscope TeamStill can't see the scroll-bar on the side of the presets list?
- TeacherNo
- TeacherI got it
- Bugscope Teamyay!
- Bugscope Teamthe presets are starting points you can zoom in and zoomout from there using magnify in upper right
- TeacherAre there air holes in the wing?
Bugscope TeamFrequently. These are not the cleanest wing scales I've seen. Sometimes you can see a fascinating pattern of ribs and small holes. The reason for them is to reduce weight while remaining structurally solid and increasing surface area
- Bugscope Teamthis is nice
- TeacherIs there dust on the wings?
- Bugscope Teamyes those are small holes in the scales, which are like feathers are to a bird
- Bugscope Teamthis may be silver paint that came up through the scale
- Bugscope Teameach thing that looks like a potato chip is a scale
- Bugscope Teampotato chip i like that
- 11:58 am
- Bugscope Teamahh, now you can see some good ribbed pattern
- Bugscope Teamyou are doing a great job driving the 'scope
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the micron bar in the corner of the screen -- now it says 3 microns
- TeacherHow big is a micron?
Bugscope Teamone millionth of a meter. hair is usually on the order of 40 - 80 microns wide
- Bugscope Teama bacterium is normally 2 microns long, so if there are bacteria in here you could see them
Bugscope Team1 microns = 3.93700787 × 10^-5 inches
- Bugscope Teama micron is a millionth of a meter
- Bugscope Teama one-thousandth of a millimeter
- TeacherDo you have our roly poly
Bugscope Teamyes, try moving left from the ant, and you should see it...
- Bugscope Teama micron is also called a micrometer
- Bugscope Teamyes, but I forgot to make a preset for it
- Bugscope Teamwe have the roly poly on here and we have to figure out how to tell you to navigate to it
- Bugscope Teamhere we see the ommatidia -- the eye facets -- of a fruit fly
- TeacherGreat
- Bugscope Teamyou can also go south of the ladybug to get there
- Bugscope Teamthere are setae sticking out from nearly each 'corner' of the ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamwhen you wish to drive to the roly poly, take the mag down as low as you can
- Bugscope Teamthese setae help the fruit fly gauge wind speed, I think -- Annie can tell us about that.
- Bugscope Teamthe setae on the fruit fly eyes, that is
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the body of the ladybug
- Bugscope Teamso if you just go south you should run into it
- Bugscope Teamthe head is to the top here
- 12:03 pm
- Bugscope Teamoh are we there?
- TeacherSo, this is the ladybuy or the rolypoly?
- Bugscope Teamof you use click to drive, the trick is to also click to stop
- Bugscope Teamthis is the ladybug
- Bugscope Teampointy claws, and lots of them
- Bugscope Teamyou are going in the right direction
- Bugscope Teamthere it is!
- Bugscope Teamit is in good shape from i can tell
- Bugscope Teama lovely face
- Bugscope Teamgood job driving!
- Bugscope Teamyou can tell these are not pictures -- this is live imaging you are doing
- Bugscope Teamjust like when we run the 'scope ourselves
- Bugscope Teamit has a tiny pointed claw
- Bugscope Teamthey are called isopods because all of their feet are the same
- Bugscope Teamroly polys are actually crustaceans
- Bugscope Teamiso means the same, like in an isosceles triangle
- Bugscope Teamand pod means foot
- TeacherWill asks, are the setae "furry"?
- TeacherWhat are all the bumps wee see on the claw?
- Bugscope Teambugs are actually crustaceans but the entomologists don
- Bugscope Teamt want us to know
- TeacherIs the purpose of the claw to get prey?
Bugscope TeamRoly polies are usually scavengers and decomposers, so they don't use their claws for catching, just for walking
- Bugscope Teamsometimes setae will look softer than others
- Bugscope Teamlike the setae on the eye of the fruitfly and here, they look very spiny and sharp
- 12:08 pm
- Bugscope Teamwhat is interesting is that roly polies live in the dirt but do not get mites, and the bumps on their exoskeletons may help prevent mites from climbing onto them
- TeacherWe have lobster crustaceans in Maine
- Bugscope Teamwhereas earwigs get mites, readily
- TeacherWe counted 12 legs with a hand lens, is that correct?
- TeacherIt looks like it lost one leg, we wonder if they can grow them back?
- Bugscope TeamI am sorry we did lose some of the legs
- Bugscope TeamI am not sure how many legs they normally have
- Bugscope Teambut like Annie says, they are not really insects, which have six legs
- Bugscope Teamlobsters and roly polies and crabs are all crustaceans, and they are related to insects, but are not in the same class. They are all arthropods
- TeacherWhy was there what looked like tear in the ladybug's claw (Adam)?
Bugscope Teamhmm, if you could drive back to the ladybug claw I can probably give you more details
- Bugscope TeamIf they were to live long enough I imagine they could regenerate their limbs
- Bugscope TeamI missed it -- you mean it looked like it was torn?
- Bugscope Teamwell if you want to move back to it you can, we saved the area of the rolypoly
- Bugscope Teamgood job Cate
- 12:13 pm
- TeacherIs the part of the roly poly we are looking at below and behind the legs the abdomen or do they have other kinds of body parts?
- TeacherHow big is this roly poly in real life?
- Bugscope TeamThis roly poly was about 1 cm long.
- TeacherDoes the roly poly have layers of exoskeleton like the ant?
- Bugscope TeamI am not sure if the body cavity is called an abdomen
- Bugscope Teamit has a thick exoskeleton very similar to that of the ant
- Bugscope Teamit is sort of like an armadillo
- Bugscope TeamI think it is called an abdomen in roly polies
- Bugscope Teamwith many plates to make it flexible so it can curl up into a ball when you bother it
- TeacherHow does the roly poly turn itself over when it is on its back?
Bugscope Teami think they just flex and wiggle until they can flip themselves over
- Bugscope Teamit has the advantage of being able to roll up
- Bugscope Teamand it can flex very well -- it is not in as much trouble as some beetles which cannot easily right themselves
- Bugscope Teamkind of a funny face
- TeacherWhat kind of mouth does it have? Chomp and Chew?
Bugscope TeamThe mouths of crustaceans are different that those of insects, but I would say they have mandibulate (or chewing mouthparts)
- TeacherAre the mouth parts in the center now?
- 12:19 pm
- Bugscope TeamSometimes when we see a mouth like this, not moving, it is hard to imagine how dynamic it really is -- it would appear to be moving in many directions if it was chewing now
- Bugscope Teamyes in the center
- TeacherCan we see our bug on the grass?
- Bugscope TeamI guess people have chomp and chew mouths
- Bugscope Teamyes
- TeacherWhere do I find it?
- Bugscope Teamwe might have to ask Cate where it is
- Bugscope Teamgo to preset 2
- Bugscope Teamor you can drive to the left of here
- Bugscope Teamoops
- Bugscope Teamthere he is
- Bugscope Teamthis may be the shed skin of an insect
- Bugscope Teamit could have crawled up out of the water and attached to this blade of grass before it metamorphosed into its adult shape
- Bugscope Teamuh oh
- 12:24 pm
- TeacherSorry, we had a power problme
- Bugscope Teamhi YES, no problemo, we are good again...
- TeacherWe are wondering what this might be
- Bugscope TeamYay!
- Bugscope Teamcan you take the mag up so we can see it better?
- Bugscope Teaminsect larvae can have many limbs, not just six
- Bugscope TeamI can't really tell what this is...it looks like it may been a caterpillar
- Bugscope Teamsounds like a good guess so far
- TeacherWe found it outside and wanted to see it on your microscope
- Bugscope Teamoften caterpillars that are infected with a pathogen will climb to the top of a stick or piece of grass and die.
- Bugscope Teamants have smaller eyes than fruitflies because they don't rely on them as much
- Bugscope TeamThe pathogen affects its behavior
- TeacherWe are counting the sides of the facets of the compound eye - hexagon!!
- Bugscope Teamthere are wasps in the rain forest that happens to as well, aren't there?
- Bugscope Teammaybe that is what is wrong with me -- a pathogen
- Bugscope Teamback to the ant head
- Bugscope Teamwhoop!
- 12:29 pm
- Bugscope Teamthat is the caterpillar
- TeacherWe are wondering what the shell feature is
- Bugscope TeamYes, wasps can be affected by pathogens or by parasites. It also happens to flys, to grasshoppers, etc. Caterpillars seem to be particularly succeptible to pathogens (although that may be a function of caterpillars being better studied).
- TeacherWe just discovered as we zoomed out that it was out caterpillar
- Teacherour caterpillar
- TeacherThank you for a wonderful hour of exploring and finding out more about bugs!!
- Bugscope Teamwe had a good time -- Thank You!
- Bugscope Teamthank you for all the good questions
- Bugscope Teamthank you, great job Yarmouth!
- TeacherSee you with the next class--Cathy
- Bugscope Teamcathy, you did a great job driving the scope too!
- Bugscope Teamwe hope you all had fun
- Bugscope Teami'm gonna run up and get some lunch.
- 12:36 pm
- Bugscope Teamthere is another session in a couple weeks I think
- Bugscope Teamright, is that the "other class" cathy was refering to?
- Bugscope Teammaybe
- Bugscope Teami was only guessing about that...
- Bugscope Teami would guess so
- 12:42 pm
- Bugscope Teamall im saying is maybe the same type of thing happened with them
