Connected on 2009-04-03 12:45:00
from , TX, US
- 2:04 pm
- Bugscope Teamone dividing bacterium
- 2:12 pm
- TeacherHello!
- TeacherWe are ready to begin.
- Bugscope TeamHello Mrs K!
- Bugscope Teamhello Mrs. Kmiec
- Guestis this a beetle of some sort
- TeacherMay we drive?
- Guestwhat is this
- Bugscope Teamsure the session is unlocked now
- Bugscope Teamthis is a pair of bacteria on the ladybug
- Bugscope Teamthe rod shaped thing near the middle is a bacterium
- Guestwhere do you get all the answers for us from?
- Guestis this a certain bacteria?
- 2:17 pm
- Bugscope TeamAditi if you go to the Bugscope website and search for Sutherland you can find the transcript for your session.
- Bugscope Teamwe just know it is the rod-shaped kind- like e coli
- Bugscope Teamthey had just divided
- Bugscope Teamnow we are on one of the rolypolies
- Bugscope Teamyou can see some of the legs
- Bugscope Teamthere are 12 to 14 legs, we think
- Guestis this the undersidde?
- Bugscope Teambut some are missing
- Bugscope Teamyes this is the ventral side; the top would be the dorsal side
- Guestwhat do they use the hairs on their legs for
Bugscope Teamthose are probably used to feel what's going on around them, so they don't bump into things!
- TeacherCan we switch driving to Mrs. Strauss?
- Guestwhat is that tube like thing for
- Bugscope Teamyes Mrs Strauss you are the supreme ruler.
- Bugscope Teamsee the antennae, swept back?
- Guestare there other names for a roly-poly
- GuestConnor - how do they feel around when legs are under body?
- Bugscope Teamsowbug, pillbug, slater...
- Bugscope Teamroly-polys are also know as pillbugs, woodlice
- 2:22 pm
- Guestis a sow ubg what was on yesterday
Bugscope Teamyes there was a sowbug yesterday as well
- Bugscope Teamthe setae on the legs are sensory, so they transmit tactile messages to the brain
- Bugscope Teamand perhaps scent or thermal information as well
- Bugscope Teamsome of the setae are sensory
- Guestdo they have good eyesight?
- Bugscope Teaminsects/arthropods have an exoskeleton
- GuestWhere is it's mouth - Mykayla
- Bugscope Teamthat is, they have what would be like armor to us
- Guestwhat is the big area of fuzzy stuff
- Bugscope Teamthe mouth is obscured by all of the foodstuff on the face
- Bugscope Teamthey probably dont have good eyesight because they live in dark places. They mostly use their antennae to get around. Their eyes are located on their back
- Guestis that its legs?
- Bugscope Teamthose were the antennae, a second ago
- Bugscope Teamthis is food that the pillbug was eating
- Bugscope Teamthe tube to the left may be part of a plant
- Guestwhat do they eat
Bugscope Teamthey eat old dead plants and decaying leaves
- GuestNevada - can fungi kill the rolypoly?
Bugscope TeamI think the rolypoly is resistant, for the most part, to fungi. It lives among them, in damp areas. But once it dies the fungi will take over
- Bugscope Teamthis really is a decomposer
- Bugscope Teamthis is the antlion!
- 2:27 pm
- Bugscope Teamits very fearsome jaws are now closed
- GuestTyler - does it use poison to kill prey
Bugscope TeamWe have read that it does and that it does not have venom.
- Bugscope Teamthis is its body, which looks funny like a turtle out of its shell
- GuestAddison - what part of US does it live?
Bugscope Teamthey live all over the US in sandy areas
- GuestMykayla - what is an antlion
Bugscope Teamit is the larva of an insect that kind of looks like a dragonfly when it is an adult. The larvae feed on ants and other small insects by digging a pit in the sand and trapping ants in it with their jaws
- GuestWhat kind of dirt do they live in?
Bugscope Teamthey like sandy soil. they can make their little conical traps in loose sandy soil
- GuestAre their hairs like eyes? Allison
Bugscope TeamWe think there are simple eyes on the other side of the head, but they are not very good eyes, so I think Allison is correct -- they depend on those sensory hairs to feel their environment.
- Bugscope Teamnow some more serious eyes
- Bugscope Teamthese are compound eyes
- Bugscope Teamor this is part of a compound eye
- GuestWhat are hairs between the eyes - chris
Bugscope Teamthe hairs are sensory setae as well -- they allow the fly to sense the wind, as Annie says.
- 2:32 pm
- Bugscope Teammade up of many individual facets called ommatidia
- Bugscope TeamThe hairs between the eyes help the fly to "steer" in the wind
- GuestWhy are there so many hairs to help steer?
Bugscope TeamI bet there are many hairs for the same reason there are many eyes; there is a better feedback mechanism with so much data coming in.
- GuestDoes each hexagonal eye see the same thing?
Bugscope TeamThe theory is that they see a part of the full image...and that what insects "see," what their brains process, looks something like a pixelated photo from a newspaper.
- Guesthow many legs does it have
Bugscope TeamAditi is has six legs, as do all insects.;)
- GuestHow good is their eyesight?
Bugscope Teamreally good. Their big compound eyes give them an almost 360 degree view of the world around them. Their compound eyes also probably help them see movement faster, so that everything around them looks like it is going in slow motion. This is part of the reason they can move out of the way of a fly swatter so fast
- Guestis that its mouth
- Guestwierd
- Guestare those hairs or spines
- Bugscope TeamSome insects have better eyesight than others, of course.
- Bugscope Teamthose may be microtrichae
- Bugscope Teamthe wing!
- GuestIs it torn?
- 2:38 pm
- Bugscope Teameven the wing has setae -- microsetae -- on its surface
- Bugscope Teamyes it has little tears in some places
- Guestwhy is there a texture in their wings
Bugscope Teamthe texture may help add surface area so that the wing can grab the air; it may also make the wing stronger and less apt to stick to things when it is wet
- Bugscope TeamOOF
- Guestwhat is that bbump
- GuestWhy does the mouth have hair?
Bugscope TeamInsects are covered in "hair" because they use the hairs to sense their environment. Unlike humans, who have a layer of skin filled with nerve endings, insects are covered with a tough cuticle. The hairs stick out of the cuticle and connect to the nervous system (like the nerve ending in our skin), and they let the insect know what is going on around them. The hairs on the mouth are like taste buds.
- GuestDoes the mouth have teeth
Bugscope Teamthe mouth only has a sponging mouth part, which it uses to suck up enzymes from rotting fruit, and it also has a pair of palps which it uses to taste/smell food
- GuestWhat are the creases in the wings?
Bugscope Teamthe creases are the wingveins
- Guestare there hair son their wings
- Guestwhat are wing veins for
- Bugscope Teamhemolymph -- insect blood -- may be pujmped into the wingveins
- Bugscope Teampumped
- GuestMay we take about a 20 minute break? We are building habitats for corn worms.
- Guestwhere do they prefer to live
- Bugscope Teamhabitat for wormanity
- Bugscope Teamsure we will see you in 20!
- Guestdo you like your job??
- Guestdo ant lions eat their own kind
- 2:43 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe think that antlions are so feisty that they would likely be pleased to eat their own kind
- Bugscope Teamthey are pretty aggresive
- Guestcan we see a different part
- Bugscope Teamyes we have cool jobs doing this
- Bugscope Teamthe 'scope is not responding, just a sec
- Bugscope Teamtruying to tpye
- Bugscope Teamyay!
- 2:50 pm
- Guestis this an ant lion claw
- Bugscope Teamyes it is
- Bugscope TeamDude you got it.
- Bugscope Teamthe claw is closed together, probably because it died while angry
- Guesthwy do you put salt
- 2:56 pm
- Bugscope TeamAditi we put salt on because we think it looks cool. It is not oridinary looking salt. And when you read in school that salt forms (NaCl) cubid crystals, you can say you have seen them up close.
- Bugscope Teamcubic crystals
- Guestwhat do ant lions use their claw for?
- Bugscope Teamwell we think sort of like what we use our hands for -- to grasp things
- Guestare there other names for ant lions
- Guestis ant lion one word or two?
- Bugscope TeamI don't know of any. When they metamorphose they have other names, whatever they turn into.
- Guestdo you have a favorite bug
- Bugscope Teamthey are also known as doodlebugs because it leaves lines in the sand when it makes the pit
- Bugscope TeamYou can find it both ways, I think.
- Bugscope Teamit would be one word, antlion because it is not really a lion
- Bugscope TeamOh yeah that's right. Doodlebugs.
- Bugscope TeamThanks, Annie.
- Bugscope Teamand doodlebug would also be one word because it is not really a bug
- Guesthow big do antlions get
- 3:01 pm
- Bugscope TeamHe was on oxycontin when Murray called. He said "I am going to watch TV all night until Mom comes in the morning.'
- Guestwhat do ant lions turn into when they come out of their pupa?
Bugscope TeamA large flying insect with long wings, big eyes and short antennae.
- Guestdo they look sort of like dragonflys
Bugscope Teamsort of yes, they have long thin bodies like a dragon fly. Dragonflies can't fold their wings back over their bodies like antlions do.
- Guestis it lacewings you are talking about?
- Teacherhello bugscope we are back
- Bugscope Teamwelcome back mrs. k!
- Bugscope TeamYay! Mrs K!
- Guesthow often do they lay their eggs
Bugscope TeamProbably once per season, depending on the species, the climate and altitude.
- Bugscope TeamAntlions and lacewings are very closely related and so the adults look somewhat similar.
- Bugscope TeamMrs K let us know if you would like to drive.
- Bugscope TeamAdult antlions have shorter antennae than lacewings. Lacewings hold their wings tentlike over their bodies when they are at rest.
- Bugscope TeamAditi we will want to pay attention to Mrs K and Mrs Strauss now -- this is their school's session.
- GuestWhat are the hairs for? Addison
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a ladybug, and you can see that one of the palps, on the right, is broken.
- Teacherwhy are there tubes coming down from the lady bugs head
Bugscope Teamthose tubes are its antennae
- 3:07 pm
- Bugscope Teamhairs, or setae, in insects/arthropods are necessary because they do not have skin with nerve endings in it
- GuestHow long can an antlion live -Mykayla
- Teachertucker says what is a palp and what does it do?
Bugscope Teamthey are used to taste or manipulate its food. they have little mechanosensory setae that does on them
- Bugscope Teaminsects/arthropods have an exoskeleton, which is sort of like if we had armor -- we would not be able to feel our surroundings
- Guesthow long do ladybugs live
Bugscope Teamladybugs live for a few months, usually.
- GuestHow do you know if it is a girl or boy?
Bugscope TeamMrs Strauss I am not sure you can tell with a ladybug whether it is a girl or boy without looking inside of its body -- some insects are like that.
- Bugscope Teamsometimes ladybugs will make it through the winter if they can find warm sheltered space
- GuestWhy do lady bugs have spots?
Bugscope Teamthey are a warning sign to other insects and animals, like the bright colors on a wasp or bee. They dont taste/smell good to animals and can make them sick.
- Bugscope Teamsome insects have ovipositors they use to lay eggs, so we know they are females
- Bugscope Teamand some flies have their compound eyes closer together in males compared to females
- 3:12 pm
- GuestWhat are the bumps
- Bugscope Teamthe bumps are its eyes!
- Bugscope Teamlooks like there are five or six on each side of the head
- Guesthow long does it take for the eggs to hatch?
- GuestWhat are the stringy things on legs
Bugscope Teamthe stringy things are more setae -- more sensory hairs
- Teacherwhat is the flap on top of the mouth?
Bugscope Teamthat is either the frons or the clypeus
- Bugscope Teamthe mouth is vertically oriented, unlike ours
- Guestafter how long in their life do they mate
- GuestWhat is that spongy stuff?
Bugscope Teamthe spongy stuff is some kind of debris -- it may be a biofilm, which protects bacteria as they grow in some species
- Bugscope TeamI think the clypeus is a platelike structure on the bottom and the frons is the analogous structure onn the top
- Bugscope Teamthe frons is the forehead, the clypeus is the upper lip ;)
- Bugscope TeamThe clypeus is the platelike structure above the mouth/jaws
- Bugscope TeamyaY! \Thanks Annie.
- Bugscope TeamI had it right this morning.
- 3:17 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe caterpillar is super cool because we can see where its stringy muscles have burst through the cuticle in many places.
- Guestwhat are all those hairs
- Bugscope Teambecause the cuticle rotted away!
- Bugscope Teamthe things that look like rope strands -- hanks of rope ( :) ), are muscles
- Guestwhy are there little bits of hair at the bottom of their legs
Bugscope TeamThose are the prolegs
- Bugscope Teamin some places if we look up close we can see the thin cuticle, inverted to show us the attachment points for the muscle
- Bugscope Teamthere actually is hair all over the caterpillar so it can tell whats going on around it. Sometimes a caterpillar will have lots of long spikey hair that act as a defense measure so bigger animals wont eat them (like birds)
- Guestdo you know what type of butterfly this cattarpillar woulld become
- Bugscope Teamand the caterpillar has those wild-looking prolegs, with little claws called 'crochets'
- Bugscope TeamThe hairs that Cate is describing can cause strong allergic reactions in some humans
- Bugscope TeamMrs Strauss we want to see the mite!
- Bugscope Teampreset no. 5
- GuestThank you from Mrs. Fenton's class. Have a good weekend. We had a great day.
- GuestWhat preset?
- Bugscope Team5
- 3:22 pm
- Bugscope Teamnice
- Bugscope TeamThank You all. We have had a good day. This has been so much fun.
- Bugscope TeamAnd a lovely mite to finish out.
- Bugscope Teamthank you, you can come back to your member pages at any time to view the chat and images
- Bugscope Teamthis is a little different, with the tiny indentations in its cuticle
- Guestwhere do you get all these answers for us from?
Bugscope TeamAditi Annie is an entomologist, and we have learned a lot from her. We also read, look things up, and ask other entomologists when we get to work with them. Insects are another life form, fascinating.
- Guestthank you for answering all my questions
- Bugscope Teamwe have been doing bugscope for a while so we (who are not entomologists) have learned about this stuff over time. Annie is our resident bug-ologist so she corrects us when we are wrong or helps us out when we dont know
- Bugscope TeamScott and Cate know a lot about insects because they have been doing Bugscope for a long time. They know more about insects than many entomologists do!
- Bugscope TeamTime to peel out...
- Guestannie, how long have you been anentomologist
Bugscope TeamSince 2003
- Bugscope TeamThank You Annie, and Cate!
- Bugscope TeamAnd Aditi have a good weekend.
- 3:27 pm
- Bugscope Teamthat is when I started grad school
- Bugscope TeamOK everyone are we ready to shut down?
- Bugscope Teamyup
- Bugscope TeamTalk to you all later
- Bugscope Team:)
- Bugscope Teamsee you!
- Bugscope Teamgrazie tante
- Bugscope Teamyou too Cate
- Bugscope Teambye