Connected on 2009-02-04 11:00:00
from , WI, US
- 10:27 am
- Bugscope Teamhello be@ver, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamwe are setting up presets right now, we'll be done in 10-15 minutes
- TeacherI am trying to get this set up while my 5th graders are at recess
- Bugscope Teamcool, do you have any questions? can i help?
- 10:35 am
- Studenthi
- Bugscope Teamhi sea, welcome to bugscope!
- Studenthow old was the praying mantis when he died
- Studentare u ready yet
- Studentor in about 15 minutes
- StudentHow old was the mantis when he died
- Bugscope Teamwell, we don't know for sure other than it was an adult, and mantis live 3-12 months or so? so i'm guessing he's 3-6 months old
- Bugscope Teamwe are still setting up presets, we'll be ready at 11AM central, or soon before
- Bugscope TeamWe can only guess how old the praying mantis is. I think Alex is correct.
- 10:40 am
- Bugscope TeamWeevil.
- Studentthis is an electron microscpe right
- Bugscope Teamsea we are making the presets for your session, and we are nearly done. after they're done we can turn control over to you.
- Bugscope Teamyep, a scanning environmental electron microscope
- Bugscope TeamThis is a scanning eletron microscope.
- Studentcool
- Bugscope Teamsue, are we ready to go? we are done with presets, and i just unlocked the session, so you should have control now
- Studentwell be ready in 5 min.
- Bugscope Teamok
- Bugscope Teamthe other presets for what you sent are near the bottom of the preset list
- Bugscope Teamwe included a few insects of our own as well
- Studentawesome
- Bugscope TeamAlright you all have control of the 'scope now, as soon as you want, and please let us know when you have questions.
- Bugscope Team Hello Drew, Alexandria, and Matthew
- 10:45 am
- Studenthi!
- Studentdid the egg sack have any baby mantis in it
Bugscope Teamwe saw eggs in it, but nothing that was hatched
- Bugscope TeamAnd sea ;)
- StudentDid the mantis die because of old age? or because of something else?
Bugscope Teami think most mantis die because of pressures in the environment: predators, people, storms, etc...
- StudentWhat insects do you give
- Bugscope Teamlikely it died of old age
- Studentwas the egg sack fertilized
- Bugscope Teamit is hard to tell whether the eggs were fertilized
- Studentwhy
- Studenthow many eggs were in it
- Bugscope Teamwe added on a weevil, as you probably saw, a beetle, some sort of fly, a water beetle, and a parasitic wasp
- StudentDid she die at a young age for a mantis?
- Bugscope Teamit is possible they were not, since we did not see evidence of development
- Bugscope Teamsome eggs were better formed than others
- Bugscope Teamopps, scott knows better than me, so yeah, this mantis probably died of old age...
- Studentare u putting up the pictures of the egg sacks
- Studentcould the eggs still hatch if they were or were to be fertilized?
- Studentwhat is a weevil
- Bugscope Teamsea, we are done with presets now, so your teacher can move the scope to anything you like now
- Studentcool
- Bugscope TeamA
- Student what is the biggest thing that the mantis could eat if she were still alive?
- Bugscope Teama weevil is a small insect that often eats grains
- Bugscope Teamweevils have long snouts like an anteater
- Bugscope TeamI don't believe the eggs would hatch if they were not fertilized.
- Studentthe egg is awesome
- 10:50 am
- Bugscope Teamthere is another egg in a little nitch to the left of it as well
- Bugscope Teamthe eggs looked like small grains of rice
- Bugscope TeamI believe that mantids typically only deposit egg cases with fertilized eggs. There are lots of eggs in a egg case, and some are inevitably misformed, unfertilized etc. It is possible that the egg case dried out, or became infected with a fungus or virus. Or it is possible that the eggs were "resting" and would resume development in the spring.
- Bugscope Teamsome mantises are large enough to eat small birds
- Bugscope TeamSo--some of the eggs were fertilized for sure. Some eggs were also probably duds.
- Bugscope Teamyou can change the mag on the microscope to see where you are
- Bugscope Teamand you can drive around; these are not just images, they are live views of what is in the microscope
- Studentcould she live off of plants?
Bugscope TeamNo, mantids are strictly predators
- Studentwhat would of been the size of the baby mantises if they would of hatched
Bugscope TeamThey are really small when they first hatch--smaller than a staple
- Bugscope Teamthe samples are coated with gold-palladium to make them conductive, but even without a conductive coat the images we see would be grey scale -- black and white
- Studentdo you think the mantises was in good shape
- Studentwas there a chance that the mantis eggs could hatch
- Bugscope TeamJonah we still have part of the egg sac, so Cate could come in one day and find baby mantises in her office
- StudentDo you think any eggs will ever hatch?
Bugscope Teamnot anymore--I think these are gonners
- Bugscope Teamthey look just like adults but are small and do not have wings
- Studentour mantis laid its eggs one mounth before it died
- Bugscope TeamThe eggs that are in the scope anyway
- Studentwhat do the baby mantises eat
Bugscope TeamThey eat leafhoppers, aphids and small flies.
- Studentwhat would you do with them if they hatch
Bugscope Teamwe would probably set them to roam outside in the wild
- 10:55 am
- StudentWhat is the crystal on the eggsack?
Bugscope TeamKatelynn when we are done with the session we will use the elemental analysis feature of the microscope to see if we can figure out what the crystals are made of. It was a surprise to us to find them.
- Studentwhat did it get moldsports from
Bugscope TeamAmie mold often shows up soon after something dies, and it seems to occur more frequently in damp environments or enclosed spaces.
- Studentwas the mantiese in good shape
- Studenthow would
- StudentCould the crystals be water crystals?
Bugscope TeamKatelynn if we saw water crystals they would be in the form of ice. These are apparently cubic crystals, and that tells us they could be salt, like sodium chloride.
- Studenthow would you raise a baby mantis
Bugscope TeamWe would try to find it small things to eat, perhaps aphids, and we would light its enclosure to keep it warm.
- 11:01 am
- Studentwhat weather would the mantis best live in?
Bugscope TeamMantids are only around after the last frost. The cold kills the adults. They overwinter as eggs in the egg cases
- StudentHow long does it take for baby mantises to hatch
- Studenthow many boys and how many girls would there have been
Bugscope TeamThe approximate sex ration is 1:1 for most insects. So, while we don't know exactly how many there would have been, we can assume half would be girls and half would be boys
- StudentDo any insects eat mantises
Bugscope TeamPredatory insects will ususally eat anything that is smaller than them. So, many insects and non-insect arthropods, like spiders, would be happy to eat a baby mantis
- Studentwhat substace was the sack made out of
Bugscope TeamJonah it is some kind of protein that comes from the female mantis and hardens after it is extruded.
- Studenthow big can a mantis get
Bugscope TeamThe largest ones are about 4-5 inches long
- Studenthow many bones can a mantis get
Bugscope Teamthey don't exactly have bones like us. They have their protective outer shell-- an exoskeleton and then all their organs and vessels are inside that
- StudentHow many babies would survie after?
- Studentwhat is the wing span of a mantis
Bugscope TeamA large female can have a wingspan of about 7 inches
- Studenthow can you tell the gender of a mantis
Bugscope TeamYou can't really tell until they are full-grown. The males are small and thin, the females are much larger and are very fat.
- Studentdo the babies really eat each other if they don't get food
Bugscope Teamyes
- 11:06 am
- StudentWhen is their mating season
Bugscope TeamThe end of the summer--like late July-August
- StudentDo Males and Females eat the same amount
Bugscope TeamUmm, I would think that females would eat more, but I am not sure if that is backed up by any scientific evidence
- Studentis it true that the females eat the males after mating
Bugscope TeamIf she is hungry
Bugscope Teamyes, that is true, after mating, the female will sometimes eat the males head
- Bugscope TeamI have seen some information that has said the females are more likely to eat the males when they are in captivity only, because the male can't get away so easily
- Studentdo they make homes
Bugscope TeamWhen I lived in Okinawa there were praying mantises that lived on the outside of the house, on the windowsill, for example. They watched us come and go.
- Bugscope Teambut yes, the female will try to eat the male usually
- Bugscope Teambut in general mantises are cannibalistic, and very aggressive towards each other
- Studentdoes it matter how long it lives if it is in the wild or in a school
Bugscope Teamgenerally, insects will live longer in captivity. There are cases of praying mantises living multiple years in captivity. Insects are more quick to die because there's just so many things that could eat them
- Teacherhow much did the mantis weigh
Bugscope Teamwe didn't weigh it I'm sorry
- Studentdo mantises fertilize the same as humans da
Bugscope TeamYes, insect reproduction is more or less the same as insects with a few minor differences
Bugscope TeamMy answer should have read insects are the same as humans...sorry for the typo
- Studentdo they ever eat to much and die
Bugscope TeamNo, insects have a very sophisticated hormonal systems that allows them to sense when they have had enough to eat. It is very similar to humans, actually...there are stretch receptors in the gut which send signals to the brain telling the insect that it is full.
- 11:11 am
- Studentwe had two mantises one had green on it's head was that a male or a female?
Bugscope TeamGenerally the major difference between the female and male mantis is that females usually have heavier abdomen and are larger than males.
- Teacherwould the male eat the babies
Bugscope TeamMantids do not provide any parental care. The males and the females mate, leave the eggs, and go on their merry way
- Teacherhow far can a mantis see
Bugscope TeamThat is a good question. They seem to be able to see very well within a few to several feet, but it is hard to say how far they see compared to people or birds, for example.
- Studentdo mantises ever eat mammals
Bugscope TeamMaybe, a large one could eat a baby mouse or a bird. I don't know if mammals comprise a large part of a mantis's diet. It seems unlikely.
- Studenthow high can they fly
- Bugscope Teamthe mantis probably weighed just a few grams
- Studenthow much do mantises drink
- Studentare the males more mean than femails
Bugscope TeamNo, I would say they are equal.
- Teacherdo they have hearts
Bugscope TeamYes, insects have hearts at the top of their bodies
- Studentis the eggsack soft or hard
Bugscope TeamIt is like a hard foam--like a meringue cookie
- Studentwe fead ours lots of crickets
- Studenti am looking at the mantisise egg sac how small is it
- Studentwhat colors can mantises be
Bugscope Teamthey blend in real well to plant surroundings, so they are green, brown and other plant colors
- 11:16 am
- Studentdo the the femailes eat the babies
Bugscope Teampraying mantises will eat just about everything that is smaller than it. So if the young ones hatched and the female went up to them and she was hungry, then I guess she would eat them then
- Studentdo they have organs and if they do what types
Bugscope TeamInsects like mantids have more or less the same organs as humans---brains, hearts, guts, a nerve cord. They don't have lungs like we have do, they have tracheal respiration, so their lungs are throughout their bodies.
- Bugscope TeamSome mantids are beautiful--pink, bright red, blue. Some are adapted to blend in with flowers.
Bugscope Teamyeah, cool, here's a pic of a really beautiful mantis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mantis_wynaad.jpg
- Studentcan a male fertalize the eggs more than once?
Bugscope Teamyes
- Teacherhow big is its brain
- Bugscope Teamthe preset may have moved, you could try to take the magnification down to see where we are
- Studentare mantises intelligant
Bugscope TeamNot so intelligent....they are similar in intelligence to roaches.
- Teacherwhat diseases can it get
- Studentwhat shapes can praying mantises be
- Studentwas it normal that our mantis layied 2 eggsacs
Bugscope TeamVery normal...I would say that a female could lay 6 or 7 egg sacs in a summer. It would depend upon the weather, the nutritional state of the insect, etc.
- Studenthow long was our mantis?
- Studenti once saw a mantice at mcdonlds in agust is this rare
Bugscope TeamIf the mantis was ordering food at McDonalds, that is quite rare. But if it was outside it would be fairly common.
- Studentcan praying mantises mate with other bugs
Bugscope Teamthey cannot mate successfully with other insects, and they are more likely to attack than to try to mate with them
- Studenthow many eggsac can a mantis lay at the most
- 11:21 am
- Teacherhow big is a weevil
Bugscope TeamWeevils range in size from almost microscopic to pretty large--a couple of inches long.
- Studentours laied 3 eggsacs in the three months we had her
Bugscope TeamWow Jacob it sounds like you took very good care of it.
- Studenthow long does it take for a mantis to lay a eggsack
- Bugscope Teamthis one today is very small
- Bugscope Teamsee the compound eye? it is streamlined into the body below the snout
- Studentin what part of the worlds do mantiseses come from
Bugscope TeamI think you can pretty much find them anywhere that has enough vegetation (no deserts)
- Bugscope Teamthe two things that look like legs are its antennae
- StudentCan a mantis throw up?
Bugscope Teamyes. Some of the most famous experiments demonstrating the toxicity of monarch butterflies were conducted using mantises.
- Studentdo mantises live longer in warm weather
Bugscope TeamKatelynn in warm weather mantises have one less factor -- the cold -- that could kill them. So they may live longer in warm weather.
- Studentyeah we fead her crickets every day
- Studentwe feed our mantiseses crickes and grasshoppers every day
- Teachercan mantises get viruses
Bugscope TeamYes, just like humans and dogs and fish, there are a whole host of viruses and other pathogens that infect mantids and other insects.
- Studenthow big can an eggsac get?
Bugscope TeamAllyssa the size of the egg sac depends in part on the size of the mantis and then also how well she has been eating. They can easily get to be half the length of your finger as as thick.
- Studenthow far can mantiseses fly
- Bugscope Teamand the weather has to be warm enough as well, no freezing temperatures
- 11:27 am
- TeacherWe also have a gartar snake. Is there anything we could send that you that we could look at under the microscope?
Bugscope TeamI think in the past we have looked at snake skin, but it wasn't very interesting. So probably not, sadly
- Bugscope TeamI should have said, regarding the size of the egg sac, at least half the length of your finger and as thick as your finger.
- TeacherCan a human get sick from Mantis?
Bugscope Teama mantis has no venom, so no it can't hurt us
- Bugscope Teamwith the garter snake, we could image the shed skin, and sometimes teeth if they come off
- TeacherDoes a mantis sleep like we do?
Bugscope TeamThey'll stop moving and "rest" for a period of time, but it's not really like a human sleeps.
- 11:32 am
- Bugscope TeamBe sure and change the mag when you get to a place, look around if you would like
- Bugscope Teamthis is a place where we had made a preset but the sample moved afterwards
- Bugscope Teamso if you take the mag down one click you can likelys see where you are
- Bugscope TeamCool!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the grasping part of the arm -- the part that grips the prey
- 11:38 am
- Bugscope Teamok, closing the session, nice one everyone!
- Bugscope Teambye bye