Poff Elementary
Session 2009-021

Application

School

Class

Project

Miscellaneous

Transcript

Connected on 2009-04-01 16:00:00 from , PA, US

• 3:49 pm
• Bugscope TeamHello!
• Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!

• Teacher hello, we are getting ready for the expo
• Teacherplease wait one minute
• Bugscope Teamno problemo, we are still setting up ourselves. session starts at 4PM central

• 3:55 pm

• 4:01 pm

• Bugscope Teamwe are ready to go when you are
• TeacherHi - I'm totally new to this technology (I'm a taxonomist by trade) so bear with me as I learn the ropes - but this is looking cool here!

• Bugscope TeamGood maybe you can help us with the identification of some of these.
• Bugscope Teamno problem, let me give you some quick tips
• Bugscope Teamwhen using navigation. you have two options: click to drive and click to center. click to center is easier
• Bugscope Teamwhen using click to drive, make sure you click once to start moving, and click again to stop
• Bugscope Teami've unlocked the session, so you should see controls on the right
• Bugscope Teambut sj is still creating some presets so don't try to control until he is done
• Bugscope Teamhi mimi!
• GuestHi Scott.

• 4:06 pm
• Bugscope Teami'm actually alex, scott was sj, but we'll be right back
• Bugscope TeamYay Hi Mimi. Now I am Scott, for sure.

• Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope!
• Bugscope TeamErin do you want to drive?
• Bugscope TeamMimi! Do you want to drive?
• StudentI'm Bob - sorry we lost you for a moment, but we're getting it together...
• GuestNo Thanks. What are we looking at now?
• Bugscope Teamok, hi bob, let us know if you have any questions
• 4:12 pm
• StudentThanks - I'm a bit techno-challenged so I'm muddlng through until I get the hang of things...
• Bugscope TeamDude I hardly know how to type.
• StudentIs it okay for me to start experimenting with the focus and adjust controls?
• Bugscope TeamThis is a brochosome between eye facets on a horsefly.
• Bugscope Teamyep!
• Bugscope TeamYou bet.
• Bugscope Teamgo for it
• Bugscope Teamyou can't destroy the scope, no worries... ;)
• Bugscope TeamLike you could take the mag down for starters.
• Bugscope Teamsee where you are in the world
• StudentHow long should the wait time be between clicking to zoom in/out? I don't want to crash this thing!
• Bugscope Teama few seconds...

• Bugscope Teamyou clicked on a preset! that worked! this is a beetle claw
• Bugscope Teamyou can tell this guy could not climb any walls or walk on the ceiling or on glass
• Bugscope Teamyou can try clicking on the minus button, take the mag down, let us know if you have any trouble
• 4:18 pm
• Bugscope Teama single click should do it
• StudentHmmm... paired tarsal claws, both cleft, am I looking at a scarab beetle - maybe Diplotaxis sp.? Actually that is a stall tactic while I learn to use this crazy laptop!

• Bugscope Teamcould be

• Bugscope Teamit's working!
• Bugscope Teamwe usually put the head to the north, and click to center is a good safe way to drive
• StudentGood, non-commital answer - I like your style!

• Bugscope Teamawesome

• Bugscope Teamfat little beetle
• Bugscope TeamI didn't recognize anything, just plundered someone's collection
• Bugscope Teamif you choose click to center, then put your cursor toward the top of the image and click, you can drive toward the head in increments
• Bugscope Teamit's great to be working with an entomologist; Annie is not on today
• StudentI zoomed out to the max, and can see it's a scarab, but that's about all I can tell. This is amazing - I have to rely on a Leica stereoscopic 'scope to do this at work
• Bugscope Teamthe min resolution is about 30-40x on this scope

• 4:23 pm

• Bugscope Teamnice job!!!!
• Bugscope Teamyay
• Bugscope Teamyou are totally get this

• Bugscope Teamgetting this
• Bugscope Teamlamellate antennae

• Bugscope Teampinhole
• Bugscope Teamwing
• Bugscope Teamelytra
• StudentHey, I just figured out how to "drive" and found the "rest of the beetle" Looks like a species of Serica.
• Bugscope TeamBob I want to know what the big fly is -- I thought it was a horsefly but it does not have slashing mouthparts

• Bugscope Teamor we can't see them
• StudentLet me see if I can get into that image and take a look

• Bugscope Teamthose were hypertrophied mechanoreceptors on the shaft of the haltere

• Bugscope Teamantennae

• Bugscope Teamthis is likely a girl fly

• Bugscope Teambut see it has spongy mouthparts
• 4:28 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe long legs you see above are from two leafcutter ants
• StudentI'm not a fly specialist, but the antennae are tabanoid, but you're right, the mouthparts don't look right - could it be a syrphid?

• StudentDon't know - everything but the mouthparts say "horsefly" to me - maybe the stylus retracted when it dried?

• Bugscope Teamyes, things often shrivel up when the insect dies

• Bugscope Teamalthough sometimes we've had insects survive the scope vacuum, and they came out and were really upset!
• 4:33 pm
• StudentKind of a Jeff Goldblume type of trick? "Hellllllp meeeee"
• Bugscope Teamheh
• Bugscope Teamtotally

• Bugscope Teamsorry can't see the eyes
• Bugscope TeamHi Maddy!
• StudentI had never seen an owlfly larva - thing looks Jurassic!
• GuestHi again
• GuestWhat are we looking at?

• Bugscope Teamthis is an owlfly larva inside an electron microscope

• Bugscope Teamand erin is controlling the scope
• Bugscope Teamrelated to antlions, predatory larvae and predatory adults

• Bugscope TeamErin is Bob, I think.

• Bugscope Teamoh yeah, bob

• Bugscope Teamthese guys have little cactus-like setae

• Bugscope TeamI imagine they are better a relaying vibration in sandy soil

• Bugscope Teamyou mean their setae can hold 100 times it's weight in water?

• Bugscope TeamI love these guys

• Bugscope Teamhuge heads to hold their jaw muscles

• Bugscope Teamand they have tiny pores in their heads too -- the other big one does

• 4:38 pm

• Bugscope Teameach bump here is called an ommatidia, it has a lens in it, so the bug brain is processing many images at once!

• GuestCan they see color?
• Studentstarting to get some traffic so I'm doing a lot of talking to folks about bugs in general...
• Bugscope TeamI sort of doubt they can see color.
• Bugscope TeamThey have relatively primitive eyes.
• Bugscope Teamlots of insects can see color but I am not sure about this ant
• Bugscope TeamBob you got to drive around a little too :)
• 4:44 pm
• Bugscope Teamgotta do it
• StudentI believe the vision is mainly receptive to light levels, and detection of UV wavelengths, but not color as we perceive it
• Bugscope Teamotherwise the folks will think they're just seeing images

• Bugscope Teamdepends on the critter

• Bugscope Teamsome can obviously see red, for example
• StudentHere I go!
• StudentOoops - ran right past the critter!

• Bugscope Teamhere you see the pores

• Guestdo antlions turn into lacewings? The good bug for the garden?
• Bugscope Teamantlions turn into a predatory flying insect kind of like a dragonfly but not related
• Bugscope Teamthey have mondo bigboy eyes as adults
• Bugscope Teamas larvae they have little eye stalks with few ommatidia on them

• Bugscope Teamthis is a critical point dried fruit fly
• 4:49 pm
• Bugscope Teamyou can tell it was not airdried because its mouthparts are not shriveled up into unrecognizability
• Bugscope Teamand its antennae look good as well
• Bugscope Teamso lovely
• StudentNice how the CPD keeps the head and eyes from wrinkling up like a raisin!

• Bugscope Teamsilver paint in the background here

• GuestSee you tomorrow with the class from Heights.

• Bugscope Teamawesome, maddy, see you tomorrow!

• Bugscope TeamYay Thanks Maddy we look forward to it

• Bugscope TeamBob what are the two parts of the antenna called?

• 4:55 pm
• Bugscope TeamFruit flies have tiny windsensing setae between the ommatidia.
• StudentDuh - got me on that one - I've forgotten my fly morphology, but in beetles the first segment is the scape, and the rest are the flagellar segments. Something sounds right about "flagellum" for the second segment,, but then again since I'm guessing, anything could sound right ;-)

• Bugscope TeamYeah I am sorry I can't remember. Should be looking it up in between.

• Bugscope Teamnow we can see that it still shrank a bit
• StudentLooks like it should brush more often, with all those cavities (comment from a kid visitor)

• Bugscope Teamsponging mouthparts

• 5:00 pm

• StudentAmazing how complex the claw structure is on these guys!
• Bugscope TeamYeah it is pretty amazing.
• Bugscope TeamNo pulvillus, no tenent setae.
• StudentThe sensory hairs on the claws are neat - guess it's like feet and a tongue combined

• Bugscope Teamunguitractor

• Bugscope TeamThis is cool and you have the hang of driving -- a $600,000 microscope.
• StudentAre the corkscrew shaped setae chemoreceptors as well, or tactile hairs?
• StudentYeah, and I don't even have a license!

• Bugscope Teamwell, we wrote insurance into the bugscope interface, so no worries!

• 5:05 pm

• Bugscope Teamthere is no way you can hurt the scope, or yourself, while driving. :)
• Bugscope TeamI always think they are tactile, mechanosensory. Chemosensory setae often will have a tiny pore at the tip, and they are smooth and flexible, according to me :)
• Bugscope TeamBob I know I have the 'lacewing' misidentified. Can you check it out?
• Bugscope Teamwelcome back!
• Bugscope TeamJust had to change your name.
• StudentSorry, we just got bumped offline for a moment, catching up...
• Bugscope Teamok
• Bugscope TeamNo problems, lot of traffic out there.

• 5:11 pm
• Bugscope Team(deus ex machina)
• Bugscope Teamwe got a tracking error on the 'scope here, not your fault
• Bugscope Teamthis is a single wingscale
• Bugscope Teameach hole in the scale looks to be about a micron, that's one millionth of a meter!
• Bugscope Teamwe cannot get super fine resolution now because we are at a long working distance -- the beam is more than an inch from the sample
• Bugscope Teamso I tweaked it a little

• Bugscope Teamif we were to move the sample close to the polepiece our resolution would be much better but we would not be able to get lowmag images
• 5:17 pm
• Bugscope Teamscales of different colors should have different substructure, I think
• Bugscope Teamwhite scales have large open lattice
• Bugscope Teamscales can have colors from pigment, which appears as tiny granules in the latticework, and they also produce structural colors that result from their periodicity
• Bugscope Teambutterflies, moths, mosquitos, silverfish, and some odd weevils have scales

• Bugscope Teamawesome serrated jaws
• Bugscope Teamyou see these only rarely
• 5:22 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe other leafcutter ant is holding a smaller leafcutter ant in its jaws

• Bugscope Teamchomp
• StudentGetting caught up in conversation with visitors, but I'm still here!

• Bugscope Teamwe have been in the same position at the Insect Fear Film Festival

• Bugscope Teamwow that was a head attached to a limb
• Bugscope Teamit had bitten onto the limb
• StudentSorry, keep clicking to drive, and then forgetting to click to stop! I'm out of control!

• Bugscope TeamCate had put a leafcutter on a stub a week or so ago, but it had no head. We just found it.
• Bugscope TeamBob you are doing very well.

• Bugscope TeamThere look to the west and norht
• Bugscope Teamnprth
• Bugscope TeamNorth

• 5:27 pm

• Bugscope TeamBob this preset moved a little since we made it

• Bugscope Teamnow you can see the pollen grain

• Bugscope TeamDude do you recognize this species?
• Bugscope Teamthat is not a limb but a palp

• Bugscope Teamreminds me of Watchmen

• Bugscope Teamthe salt crystals are from a Wendy's restaurant.

• StudentAh-hah. I thought I was just lost
• Bugscope Teamthis is the syrphid fly
• StudentThe earlier beast I was flying all around looked to me to possibly be a caddisfly, Trichoptera. It's a bit tricky as I don't have a good feel for the real-life scale of the specimen

• Bugscope Teamthere it is

• 5:32 pm
• Bugscope TeamI dunno maybe 15 to 20 mm long

• StudentI can't see funtional mouthparts, just the palps - typical for a lot of Trichoptera
• Bugscope Teamthey just taste things and breed, don't eat as adults
• StudentI'm surprised at the size of the specimens - I had assumed that only very tiny specimens (
• Bugscope Teamthe stub is 1.75 inches in diameter
• StudentVERY COOL!
• Bugscope Teamthe large eye toward the back is the syrphid fly
• Bugscope Teamthe polepiece is above, conical
• Bugscope Teamwe are using an infrared camera mounted in the back of the chamber, looking toward the door
• StudentIs that the receptor "basket" to the upper left ?
• Bugscope Teamthe thing on the upper right is the cage -- yes! -- on the SED
• Bugscope Team300 volt positive bias
• Bugscope Teamwe are working at 5 kV with a 2.1 nm spot
• Bugscope Teamthis 'scope has a field emission electron gun
• 5:37 pm
• StudentAnd that doesn't interfere with the camera, or do you stop scanning to take that image?
• Bugscope Teamthe beam is blanked when we go to the CCD camera

• Bugscope Teamfemale mosquito

• Bugscope Teamlucky we see both antennae

• Bugscope Teamyou can see we get a lot of charging on critters with scales

• Bugscope Teamit may be the other mosquito on which you can see one of the stylets
• TeacherHow does that affect the image?
• Bugscope Teamyou mean charging?

• 5:42 pm
• Bugscope Teamcharging makes the image irreparably bright or dark

• Bugscope Teamthe samples are all coated with several nm of gold-palladium and stuck down to carbon doublestick tape with silver paint to help out
• Bugscope Teamplain gold is not fine enough -- we would be able to see the grains of gold fairly soon, at fairly low mags for this 'scope

• Bugscope Teambee right back

• Bugscope Teamalright
• 5:48 pm

• Bugscope Teambeetle head

• Bugscope Teamsometimes you can see chemosensory structures inside the plates, the lamellae

• Bugscope Teambut here there is a lot of juju

• Bugscope Teamyou may be able to discern the eye facets
• Bugscope Teamat higher mag, moved in
• TeacherThe specimen is really clean - these guys tend to "puke" up liquid when they die and that often obscurs the antennal and mandibular structures - the sculpture of the molar surfaces are often characterictic to a species
• 5:53 pm
• Bugscope Teamyeah this was from an entomology grad student's collection
• TeacherLost you - are you still on the scarab head?
• Bugscope Teamso some of these were trapped
• Bugscope Teamoh yeah sorry
• Bugscope Teamthis is off to the 'collar' opposite the (featureless) eye

• Bugscope Teamsometimes, especially with earwigs, we see mites

• Bugscope Teamand sometimes we see mold, fungus; sometimes bacteria

• Bugscope Teamwe have been doing this for 10 years and 12 days

• Bugscope TeamI think this was a butterfly

• Bugscope Teamgrey, red...
• Bugscope Teambrown and black

• 5:59 pm

• Bugscope Teamif there were pigment granules we would see them hanging in these holes

• Bugscope TeamI am doing some of the fine focusing 'cause it's quicker

• Bugscope Teamthe ridges are a little more than 2 micrometers across

• Bugscope Teamthe length of many bacilli
• Bugscope Teamabout 2 microns
• Bugscope Teamnow you see an optical illusion in an electron optical image
• Bugscope Teammoire patterns

• Bugscope Teamsometimes you will see this in complex eyes as well, like on a moth's compound eye
• Bugscope Teamtry clicking once on the micron bar, lower left
• Bugscope Teamyou should see a set of parameters
• 6:05 pm

• Bugscope Teamso pretty

• Bugscope Teamwhat preset was this?

• Bugscope TeamI see. Click once to stop

• Bugscope Teamthere back to the stylet, one of the stylets

• Bugscope Teamwhen we make a preset at higher mag and it is something like this it often moves a little after while
• Bugscope Teamafter awhile
• 6:11 pm
• Bugscope Teamthere may be four of these in one fascicle
• Bugscope TeamI think they work like laciniae in a flea cutting side by side
• TeacherVery cool how the serrations on the stylet are alternating, as if to cut in, but then allow the stylet to cut out as the bug withdraws it. I've been looking at insects under a 'scope for years, but have barely seen anything so far!
• Bugscope Teamflea, comma, cutting side by side
• Bugscope Teamthis is an uncommon view, also

• Bugscope Teamit is at the perfect angle to allow us to see that

• Bugscope Teamsee the pollen grain, the scale, the plumose setae, the antennae

• Bugscope Teamthe edge of the world

• Bugscope Teamthere are also mold spores to the right
• Bugscope Teamnext to the pollen grain
• TeacherThis view is highly reminiscent of a "South Park" episode I just saw about fleas!
• Bugscope Teamah and you can see placoid sensilla on the antenna

• Bugscope Teamhuh cool

• 6:16 pm

• Bugscope Teamthis is not a fly is it
• TeacherNo, looks like a small hymenopteran
• Bugscope Teamsomeone else's scale
• Bugscope Teamyeah it did look like an ant by eye, sort of
• TeacherI just noticed the tiny setae at the junctures of some of the eye facets

• Bugscope Teamcompare this to the fruit fly eye

• TeacherNot sure this is truly a seta, pretty stout!
• Bugscope Teamwhat would you term it?

• Bugscope Teama bristle?

• Bugscope Teammutant one there
• 6:21 pm
• Bugscope Teamwe seem to call bristles, microsetae, trichae, microtrichae all 'setae'
• TeacherNot sure what I'd call that - probably some specific name for that kind of character - entomologists are notorious for having all kinds of specific names for hairs that do different things
• Bugscope Team'cause we don't know any better
• Bugscope Teamit seems there is a lot of disagreement
• TeacherJob protection... keep the masses in the dark
• Bugscope Teamha yeah

• Bugscope Teamtoo bad we don't have a bee, with super hairy eyes

• Bugscope Teamalso we do not have any ocelli yet tonight
• Bugscope Teamor hamuli

• TeacherHow often do you change out the specimens?
• Bugscope Teamwe never change them during a session but try never to use te same stub twice

• Bugscope Teamif someone works right after someone else we will have to leave the same stub in since it takes awhile to make the presets
• TeacherDoes the sputter-coating degrade with time during a session?

• 6:26 pm

• Bugscope Teamnot during a session, usually.
• TeacherAhhhh... can't catch this one
• Bugscope Teamthe insects get more dry over time and lose conductivity
• TeacherCan the stubs be retained and reused over and over?

• Bugscope Teamwe clean the stubs and reuse them, but we rarely try to save insect samples, which rot unless they are desiccated
• TeacherSome wicked jaws there

• Bugscope Teamyeah man

• Bugscope TeamI am sorry there is no dorsal view so you could see the eyes

• Bugscope Teamwell you can!
• Bugscope Teamthere is an eye to the SE

• Bugscope Teamout of the image still
• Bugscope Teamjust south

• Bugscope Teamyay

• Bugscope Teamthat was an eye stalk
• Bugscope Teamlot of fungus on these
• TeacherSorry - got distracted looking at what appears to be a palp laying along the base of the mandible

• Bugscope Teamthat with the cacti on it is an eye

• 6:31 pm
• Bugscope Teamthat's it
• Teacherbizarre!

• Bugscope Teamit's an eyestalk with perhaps simple eyes on it

• Bugscope Teamthese will have trigger hairs as well, on the other side
• TeacherThe filamentous structures are fungi?

• Bugscope Teamyes I think so

• Bugscope TeamI wonder if the cactus-like setae are that shape because they are more sensory beneath sand or if they better retain the dirt and sand that antlions often coat themselves with
• Bugscope Teamof course this is not an antlion
• Bugscope Teambut it looks so much like one
• TeacherDo these trunk-like hairs act as triggers for the jaws? Looks like they could be little "trip-handles" for the jaws.
• Bugscope TeamI was thinking the trigger hairs would be longer, and there would be only two, like with trapjaw ants
• 6:37 pm
• Bugscope Teambut if you are in sand they have to be less sensitive in a way
• Bugscope Teamto pressure
• TeacherProbably so - I guess by the time a prey insect contacted these, the antlion would already be aware of it
• Bugscope Teamyour jaw would be snapping shut all of the time
• Bugscope Team(if it was too sensitive)
• Bugscope Teamwe see analogous structures all over the exoskeleton
• TeacherMaybe the closer the better, since the antlion is somewhat buried as it waits on prey

• Bugscope Teamyes I think you are right

• Bugscope Teambizarre-looking dudes

• Bugscope Teamuhoh where were you going?
• Bugscope Teamcool

• Bugscope Teamwe got a tracking error briefly, here on the 'scope
• 6:42 pm
• TeacherWent looking for the Wendy's salt by request here and got lost!
• Bugscope Teamoh okay I can take you there, sorry
• TeacherI see you have the beetle updated - cool!
• Bugscope Teamyeah :)
• TeacherSo that's how they stop your heart! Looks tasty!
• TeacherWe're going to wander again...
• Bugscope Teamthis is interesting salt -- we think it has an anticaking agent that makes it have that Aztec-like pattern
• Bugscope Teammost salt is a simple cube

• Bugscope Teamthis is another one of those intricate tarsi/claws
• TeacherClear that flies are doing a lot more than just hanging on to things with their feet

• 6:47 pm

• Bugscope Teamanother thing we do not have today, as a preset, is the pulvillus -- the sticky pad with the tenent setae on it that allow you to cling to glass, for example

• Bugscope Teamtry preset 6 when you get a chance so the brochosomes will be part of the database for your school
• TeacherReally - a lot of our visitors are asking "can I see the pulvillus" - they're bummed. Just kidding...
• Bugscope Teamwell we should be able to find one on a fly

• Bugscope Teamthe soccerballs are brochosomes

• Bugscope Teamwhich only leafhoppers are said to produce
• Bugscope Teamthey are about 400 nm in diameter
• TeacherWhat are their function?
• Bugscope Teamyou are imaging at 82,000x
• TeacherWhat is the upper limit on this scope?
• Bugscope Teamleafhoppers have an 'anointing' behavior in which they spread them on their cuticle
• Bugscope Teamthey may keep eggs from drying out
• 6:53 pm
• Bugscope Teamwe can go to 800,000 but take meaningful potentially publishable images at no more than maybe 200,000x

• Bugscope Teamas I had mentioned earlier to make those look really good we would be much closer to the polepiece
• TeacherWOW!
• Bugscope Teamyou are at 200,000x now
• Bugscope Teamwe are more than an inch from the polepiece and can get as close as about 3 mm
• Bugscope Teamthat gives us much better resolution
• TeacherI notice at this resolution that the image appears to be "shimmering" - is this typical at this high a magnification?

• Bugscope Teamit is because we are so far from the sample

• Bugscope Teamand the AC kicked on

• Teacherthe AC? Are you getting vibration from it?

• Bugscope Teamyeah sometimes we shut it off to get super high res images

• Bugscope Teamno talking, either, of course
• Bugscope Teamwe are 23 feet underground
• 6:58 pm
• Bugscope Teamand far enough from the elevators to avoid vibration from them
• TeacherYour voice actually can affect the scan? I guess Barry White playing in the lab would be out then?

• Bugscope Teamthere

• Bugscope Teamfew insects have such complex ommatidia
• Bugscope Teammostly we see this with moths, butterflies
• TeacherLooks as if there is a whole second level of facets on each ommatidia
• Bugscope Teamyes
• Bugscope TeamI let myself think it helps with UV imaging but have no idea what the structure does
• TeacherWonder why something as relatively passive as a lacewing would have such complex eyes?
• Bugscope Teamthose look to be less than 200 nm diameter
• Bugscope Teamyeah if this is a lacewing
• TeacherThis may be what causes that interesting golden reflection when you hit a lacewing with light in the dark

• 7:03 pm

• Bugscope Teammaybe it aids with night vision since we see it in moths

• Bugscope Teamyou said this might be a trichoptera?

• Bugscope Teamtrichopteran?
• Bugscope Teamthere is so much to know about insects
• TeacherI'm looking again at it - the wings are missing the intricate venation that is present in Neuroptera

• Bugscope Teamha cool

• Bugscope Teamit might've had an alternately colored abdomen
• Bugscope Teamringed
• TeacherAdditionally, the wings have a lot of setae, typical of Trichoptera
• Bugscope Teamokay
• Bugscope TeamBob is there still a crowd? I would like to help the guy on the TEM shut down, peel out for home sometime soon.
• 7:08 pm
• TeacherI got the word to go home! This has really been interesting and thank you bunches!
• Bugscope TeamHey Man I really appreciate getting to work with you.
• Bugscope TeamThis was an uncommon session, extra fun.
• Bugscope TeamThank you.
• TeacherI'm at the carnegie Museum of Natural History, btw, looking forward to working with you again some day!
• TeacherGood night!
• Bugscope TeamHey Cool. You bet. Thanks Bob.
• Bugscope TeamGood night!