Brattleboro Union High School
Session 2008-096

Application

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Class

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Miscellaneous

Transcript

Connected on 2008-12-04 10:30:00 from , VT, US

• 10:27 am
• Bugscope TeamGood morning!
• Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope>
• TeacherHello! Looks great! We'll be on in 40 min or so.
• Bugscope Teamalright cool
• 11:23 am
• TeacherHello!
• Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
• Bugscope TeamThis is a mite we found on a bumblebee.
• TeacherCan i drive now?
• Bugscope Teamsure!
• Bugscope TeamYou can change mag, drive around, focus, go to another preset...

• Bugscope Teamthis seems to have biting/cutting mouthparts

• TeacherAre those legs?
• Bugscope Teamyou can also see that like a tick its body is expandable, apparently

• Bugscope Teamthose are legs and palps, depending on just what we are looking at
• Teacherso are tose things it's mouth parts?
• Bugscope Teamin the middle, the platelike things, are the mouthparts
• TeacherOhhhhhhhhh

• 11:28 am

• Bugscope Teamoutside of those may be palps, which help arthropods taste their prospective food

• Bugscope Teamwhen you look at the tick you will see large palps that fall to the sides when the tick bites

• Bugscope Teamnow you can see how small the mite is compared to the bumblebee body

• Bugscope Teamthis is the claw of one of the ticks; the background is a bubble in the carbon tape we mounted the tick upon
• Bugscope Teamadult ticks have eight legs

• TeacherWhat is this thing?
• Bugscope TeamTicks and mites and chiggers (which are also mites) are arachnids--like spiders
• Bugscope Teamthis is the capitulum -- the part of the tick that looks like a head but is the palps and the mouthparts
• TeacherDo younger ticks have less legs?
• Bugscope Teamtick larvae have six legs
• Bugscope Teamtick nymphs have eight legs

• 11:33 am

• TeacherWhats the difference between a tick nymph and a larve?

• Bugscope TeamIf they can't find a suitable host, ticks can go into a state of hibernation. They can live many years without any food or water. They "wake up" when they sense a host is near.
• Bugscope Teamthe larva is what first hatches out of the egg, and it needs to feed in order to gorw into a nymph

• Bugscope Teamthere are different ticks with different lifecycles, but it seems like they feed, drop off and grow, and then feed higher off the ground next part of the cycle

• TeacherWhat are those hairy things for?
• 11:39 am
• Bugscope Teamwe are not sure what this is exactly, but because it seems to be a waterdweller, it is likely the setae help keep those palps above the water
• Bugscope TeamI am having a little trouble IDing this insect from this angle--I didn't get to see the specimens before we attached them to the stub

• Bugscope TeamIf you can decrease the magnification a little bit, I can tell you a little more about this insect
• Bugscope Teamspecifically it would be good it I can see its body

• Bugscope Teamthis can be a humbling job, on our end, because we don't always know all of the answers

• Bugscope Teamat first I thought because of the rounded head that this was a leafhopper

• Bugscope TeamLegs!!!

• Bugscope TeamThis is a Corixid water bug
• Bugscope TeamAnnie is our entomologist, and she just proved that what I thought were palps were forelegs.
• Bugscope TeamThe common name is a waterboatman
• Bugscope Teamthey use those little tiny front legs to scoop water into their mouth and filter little shrimp and microorganisms from the water

• Bugscope Teamyou can see that the back legs resemble oars

• Bugscope Teamcompound eye

• 11:44 am

• Bugscope Teamthese are the individual facets of the eye, called ommatidia
• Teacherare each of those ommatidia one cell or many?
  Bugscope TeamThey are more than one single cell...they are made of many cells. Each ommatidia is a facet of the eye.

• Bugscope Teaman ommatidium is layered; there are more components beneath the surface

• Bugscope Teamthis is one of the six stylets of a female mosquito
• TeacherIs that what they use to suck blood out of things?

• Bugscope Teamthe stylets are normally 'closely appressed,' as I read in one description
• Guestthis is cool

• Bugscope Teamthat is part of what cuts into your skin and helps the mosquito draw blood
• Bugscope TeamThank you Prasad.

• Bugscope Teamthis mosquito was critical point dried, which made the mouthparts separate
• 11:49 am
• Bugscope TeamThis mosquito was collected by me!
• Bugscope TeamFrom me
• Teacheryo prasad
• Bugscope Teamso all of the coily stuff is normally in the bent tube in the foreground, left
• Teacherthank you
• Bugscope TeamAnnie collected our best mosquito samples, at some bodily risk.
• TeacherThanks - we'll be back with a different class in a few minutes
• Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eyes as well.
• Bugscope TeamPrasad do you know the teacher we are working with today, or did you just show up from the Outer World?
• Bugscope Teamthe background of the area we are viewing now has bubbles of silver paint in it.
• 12:06 pm
• TeacherHello!
• Bugscope TeamHello!
• Bugscope TeamThis the head of a mosquito, and in the background we see bubbles of the silver paint we used to help stick the samples down, and to ground them electrically.
• Bugscope Teamthe mosquito's mouthparts have separated and are coiled all over in front of the head.

• Bugscope Teamthis is a flying ant

• Bugscope Teamyou can see its compound eyes, on the sides of the head, and on the top of the head you can see the ocelli -- the simple eyes

• Bugscope Teamthe antennae have ball and socket joints where they fit into the head

• 12:11 pm

• Bugscope Teammouthparts in insects usually work side to side rather than up and down

• Bugscope Teamhere we can see the eye, and a strand of plant material

• Bugscope Teamsometimes we see more detail in the surface of the compound eye, as in preset 1.

• Bugscope Teamthis is the capiulum -- the part of the mouth in a hard tick that sticks out from the body

• Bugscope Teamwhat we are looking at here is the hypostome

• Bugscope Teamwhich sticks into your skin and holds tight with those recurved spines

• Bugscope Teamthe dried fluid is probably the cement that the tick exudes to help it stick into your skin
• Bugscope Teamand this is one of the eight claws
• 12:16 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe background here is a bubble in the carbon tape

• Bugscope Teamthis is the face of a bumblebee

• Bugscope Teamyeah you can help if you want -- I feel bad about always taking the reins
• Teacheris that its mouth?
• Bugscope Teamyes
• 12:21 pm
• Teacherthank you
• Bugscope Teamyes it is, it is kind of hard to see, but it is all closed up with a couple palps on either side

• Bugscope Teamgetting better...

• Bugscope Teamthe eyes should be to the north

• 12:27 pm

• Bugscope Teamthis is a waterboatman
• Bugscope Teamyou can see its compound eye, streamlined into the rounded edge of the head

• Bugscope Teamwaterboatman has a lot of setae (hairs) along its legs to give it more surface area so it can walk on water
• Teacherthank you very much
• Bugscope Teamthese things I had thought were palps are the front legs.
• 12:34 pm
• TeacherThanks Team Bugscope - much appreciated!
• Bugscope TeamIs that it for the day? Thank You!
• Bugscope Teamand remember that you can access the chat and images you saw today at your member page http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2008-096/

• Bugscope Teamdo you have any other questions?
• 12:39 pm
• Bugscope Teamok signing of