Connected on 2009-01-27 11:00:00
from , IL, US
- 10:59 am
- Bugscope Teams'okay :)
- Bugscope Teami just cleared the chat, so when the kids login they won't see that
- TeacherThe kids are here now
- Bugscope Teamgreat! we are ready
- Bugscope Teamhello all!
- Bugscope TeamYay! beetle head
- Bugscope Teamits like a mini rabbit
- Bugscope Teamwith scary mouth parts
- Bugscope TeamLooks a lot like a longhorned beetle--but I am not sure that it is--it doesn't look quite right
- 11:04 am
- Bugscope Teamhi alyssa, fiona, and megan
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Studenthi guys
- Studentthat's cool
- Bugscope TeamLet us know when you have questions
- Bugscope Teamthis is beetle head looking strait at us
- Studenthi
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope!
- StudentWhat are we looking at?
Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a beetle, it's looking strait at us
- Bugscope Teamhi Alexa and Gerard
- Bugscope Teamstraight at us
- Studentwhat are those mouth parts called
Bugscope Teamit has a set of jaws for chewing, and underneath you can see 2 sets of palps which it uses to taste/manipulate its food
- Bugscope TeamAlex is a creative speller
- StudentHi!
- Studentwhere aree the eyes
- Studentwhat are we looking at
- Bugscope TeamJake the eyes were on the sides of the head.
- Bugscope Teamyou can see them at a lower mag
- Bugscope Teamthese are tiny setae on the face of the beetle
- Bugscope Teamnotice those hairs, they are actually called setae (see-tee-
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the eyes on either side of the head
- Bugscope Teamand you can se the antennae at the corners of the head
- 11:10 am
- Bugscope TeamFiona the microscope is about as big as a large desk. The column is on one end and is over 6 feet tall -- that's where the sample is.
- Bugscope Teamsetae stick through the exoskeleton of the insects, attached to nerves underneath
- Bugscope Teamhere is a wasp stinger.
- Bugscope Teamonly female wasps and bees and ants can sting
- Bugscope Teamand not all wasps or ants sting
- Bugscope TeamCate is right -- the business part of the microscope is about the size of a fridge.
- StudentWhy does it hurt so much if the end is so pointy?
Bugscope TeamThe insect injects a poison when it stings, which causes the pain. And despite how blunt it looks from here it is still pretty pointy.
- Bugscope Teamif you take the mag down you can see where this is on the body
- StudentDoes the stinger have any feeling hairs?
Bugscope TeamSome wasps do have sensory setae on the "stinger," just not at the very tip
- Studentare those long hairs feelers too?
Bugscope TeamFiona many of the long hairs are used like feelers -- they are sensory setae. But some are not just for sensing touch; they can also be thermosensory or chemosensory. The insect can sense hot and and as well as sensing different chemicals in the air.
- Bugscope Teamyou could tell from looking at the stinger that it did not have recurved spines on it that would help it stick into your skin -- it could be used to sting repeatedly
- Studentwhat do they do with there claw?
Bugscope Teameach leg has a claw and they are used to grab onto things. It could be their food or it could be whatever they are climbing on
- Bugscope Teamsome wasps don't use their stingers to sting humans. Some wasps use their stingers to stun or paralyze insects that they eat or into which they lay eggs.
- 11:15 am
- Studentwhat is the crust on the claw ?
- Studentwhat is the crusty/mold things on the claw
Bugscope Teamdirt, dust, mold, grody stuff
Bugscope Teamthat is some "juju" from critical point drying it-- we critical point dry things that are in ethanol generally
- Bugscope Teamif you dry them without doing that, they tend to shrivel up and look unrecognizeable
- Studentdo the silverfish have scales?
- Bugscope Teamthis is a silverfish, which has tiny scales on it like a butterfly or moth
- Studentwhere are the eyes
Bugscope Teamyou cant see them very well, but i think they are underneath the antennae (they look kind of roundish and big)
- Bugscope Teamsilverfish are considered by many to be the most primitive insects
- Bugscope Teammosquitoes also have scales
- Studenthow long does this creature live
Bugscope Teamprobably a couple of months if it is lucky.
- Bugscope Teamthey do not have wings at any point in their lives.
- Studentdoes a silverfish swim
Bugscope Teamno, they like to live in dry places. It gets the name silverfish because they are streamlined and slick, and they have scales like a fish.
- StudentWhere is the mouth?
Bugscope TeamY.ou can just barely see it. It is the narrow line between the antennae
- StudentCan they breathe under water and above water?
Bugscope TeamThey cannot breathe underwater. They would certainly drown if they got into water.
- Studentthe antennea look like they are divided into segments. Why?
Bugscope TeamBecause cuticle is not very flexible, many of the body parts are divided into segments with individual plates of cuticle. That allows the insect to move around efficiently. Insect cuticle is like a knight's coat of armor
- 11:20 am
- Bugscope TeamOne website I found says that silverfish can live 2 to 8 years and moult perhaps four times a year. That is unusual, not what we would expect.
- StudentWhat are the little coil things sticking out of its head?
Bugscope Teamthose are antennae, and they are also made of a number of segments, as Fiona had noted earlier.
- StudentDo they have a nose?
Bugscope Teaminsects breathe through spiracles, like nostriils, that are located on every segment of the body. Each cell in the insect has to have its own supply of oxygen, since insect "blood" does not carry oxygen like our blood does. Insects smell with little hairs all over their bodies...instead of through their spiracels
- Studentwhere are the eyes?
Bugscope TeamThe eyes are usually on the sides of the head, and often but not always below the antennae
- Studenthow do they breath
Bugscope Teaminsects usually breath through holes in the sides of their abdomen, they are called spiracles
- Studentwhere are the eyes??
Bugscope Teamwe can't see the eyes here.Termited have very reduced eyes, generally speaking. They don't need big eyes since they live underground and in cavities
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool
- Studentwho do you prepare the bug for the microscope
Bugscope TeamI prepare the bugscope samples most of the time. I made this one. Either schools will send in their own insects to look at, or we have a pretty big collection of insects to choose from.
- Studentwhat is in the antenna.
Bugscope TeamJake the antenna has many of the sensory structures the insect uses to gather data about its environment. It is often the place where most of the chemosensory setae are found. If you look at an ant you can imagine that it uses its antennae more than it uses its eyes, and some ants don't even have eyes. The termite, as Annie said, is similar in not relying on its eyes as much.
- 11:25 am
- Bugscope Teamcles
- Studentthe antennea looked like it was just some threads weaved together, what are they made of?
Bugscope Teamthe threads are extensions of the antennae. Male moths have to locate the females who release a chemical into the air to let the males know where they are. Male moths have to sense very vvery small amounts of the chemicals that the females produce. And they sense those chemicals with receptor setae on the antennae. So, the antennae of many male moths have evolved in such a way to maximize the surface area that can be covered in the receptor hairs. Thus the crazy hairs.
- StudentWhat are we looking at right now?
Bugscope Teamthis is a scale on the surface of a fly's compound eye
- Bugscope Teamthe round things are the individual facets of the eye, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthis is the moth head
- StudentWhy does it have such big eyes?
Bugscope Teama lot of flying insects have very large compound eyes, each one of those facets in the eye has a lens in it, so they have really good vision. that helps them when they are flying
- 11:30 am
- Studentwhat are the things on the eye?
Bugscope Teamwhat things exactly? There were setae (remember they are insect hairs) coming out of them, and also the compound eyes are bumpy-looking, and the bumps arecalled ommatidia which are thought to each get a visual of the area around them
- Bugscope Teamthis is the very tip of the proboscis of an aphid
- Studentwhat are we looking at
- StudentBYE!
- Studentthank you for that. It was awesome!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see, inside the fold, the sharp parts of the proboscis that stick into plants
- Studentthankyou
- Teacherour class is over now. Thank you so much
- Bugscope TeamOh... Thank You!
- Bugscope Teamthanks for your questions and driving, you were all great
- Bugscope TeamMs S is this the last class for today?
- StudentAdios!
- Teacheryes it the end of my only science class for the day
- Bugscope Teamms. smaha, all the chat and images are saved on your member page:
- 11:35 am
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2008-150
- Teacherthank you. I will look at it.
