Connected on 2009-11-23 15:30:00
from Hayward, CA, US
- 2:50 pm
- Bugscope TeamNo Alex? Hope he is not sick.
- 2:56 pm
- 3:02 pm
- 3:09 pm
- 3:18 pm
- Bugscope Teampresets done, session unlocked, we are ready
- 3:30 pm
- Bugscope Teamhello CSU EB!
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugsscope
- TeacherHello there! We will be starting very soon! I have to introduce the session to the students here!
- Bugscope Teamokay, we are ready anytime
- 3:45 pm
- TeacherWhat are we looking at here?
Bugscope TeamWe are looking at a spider that you sent us. The underside of the head and its palps
- Bugscope TeamThis is a spider
- TeacherThanks! What are palps?
Bugscope TeamThey are mainly used to help manipulate food or taste food
- Bugscope TeamPalps also play a role in mating in spiders
- Bugscope TeamThat is why males generally have long palps and females have short palps
- TeacherAre palps legs? Or what?.....
Bugscope TeamThey are parts of the mouth, actually, but they look like legs
- 3:50 pm
- Bugscope Teamthey are like mini legs by the head on a spider
- TeacherI see....
- TeacherHow are these palps used for mating?
Bugscope TeamThe males actually use the palps to transfer sperm to the females
- TeacherCould you focus on the mouth parts for us? Drive please :)
- Bugscope TeamAlex takes the wheel!
- Bugscope TeamYou can see the fangs here
- Bugscope Teamthose are the fangs
- TeacherCool! Great driving! What are the fibers?
Bugscope TeamThis looks like fungal hyphae...but I could be wrong
- Bugscope Teamlooks like alien hive structures...
- 3:56 pm
- Bugscope TeamThey are sucking out all the vital fluids!!!
- Bugscope Teamalthough this is real, and aliens hive structures are from a movie :)
- Bugscope Teammoving to the fly head
- TeacherThanks - we will naviagte from here!
- Bugscope TeamI think Annie is right about the fungus. There were some fungus in other parts of the insetcs
- Bugscope Teamok, let us know if you want me to drive again
- TeacherHi I am Anthony I will be taken over for now : )
- Bugscope Teamhi anthony
- Bugscope TeamSo insect and spiders and everything have fungal spores all over their bodies. The spores are in the air and all around. When a fungal spore lands on a dead thing, it can germinate without the dead thing cleaning it off or the immune system killing the growing fungus. But, when the thing is dead, the fungus germinates and establishes, and starts breaking down the body of the dead thing...in this case, the spider
- Bugscope TeamHey Anthony
- TeacherWhat are the spores used for?
Bugscope TeamThe spores of the fungus are kind of like fungus "seeds."
- TeacherSorry we just read it
- Bugscope TeamMoth head
- TeacherWhat part of the head are we looking at?
- Bugscope TeamI couldn't fit the entire cricket, so I chose the leg because it looked pretty intact
- TeacherAre those the eyes?
Bugscope Teamyup, the eyes are on either side and the mouth is in the middle
- Bugscope Teammoths have a large proboscis, that's the curld up thing between the eyes
- 4:01 pm
- Bugscope Teamthose are compound eyes, most flying insects have compound eyes, which are made up of thousands of individual facets, called ommatidia, each one with a lens in it
- TeacherWhy is the nose so big on the moth?
Bugscope TeamWell, it is not really the nose since moths smell with their antennae. It is the mouth only, and it is long so that the moth can extend it into the base of flowers to suck the nectar.
- Bugscope Teamthe part in the middle is a proboscis, which laps up liquids. It is the moth's mouth part
- Bugscope Teamwell, that's the proboscis, not really a nose
- Teachermore like a tongue?
- Bugscope Teama proboscis is a protrusion from the face, even animals have proboscis's, the largest in the world is the elephant trunk
- Bugscope TeamMoths smell with their antennae and breath through spiracles all over their bodies---they have nostrils on each segment of their bodies!
- Bugscope Teamit extends out like a new years noise maker
- Bugscope Team breathe
- Bugscope Teamit's a little like a tongue i suppose, but it's called a proboscis
- Bugscope Teamspelling challenges today
- TeacherSo it has a little opening at the end? Is take in their food?
Bugscope TeamIt has two openings, I think...it is like one of those little brown coffee straws
- Bugscope Teamyep
- Teacherpretty cool alex
- Teacheractually really cool!
- Bugscope Teamif you zoom in on the eyes you can see more of the compound eye. it's worth it!
- Bugscope Teamand the moth seems furry because of all its scales
- Bugscope TeamThe scales make the moth slippery--they can fall off to help the moth escape from predators
- 4:06 pm
- Bugscope Teamsee those bumps on the eye? those are the ommatidia, individual facets, each one has a lens in it
- TeacherWow! So, a moth doesn't focus on one thing?
Bugscope TeamThey get a patchwork of images, that they are able to assemble into a general idea of an image. The current hypothesis is that insects see images that look like a bad, pixelly newspaper photo
- Bugscope Teamthe hexagonal shape aids in the curvature of the entire eye. if the ommatidia were squares it wouldn't be able to be curvy
- Bugscope TeamHi You All
- Bugscope Teamthose compound eyes are very good at detecting movement though, that's why they are so good at avoiding things while flying
- Bugscope TeamMoths and other night flying insects have different eyes that are designed to gather light from a lot of different sources. When they are confronted with a bright light, like one on your porch, they get confused--that is why they are so clumsy flying around bright lights.
- Bugscope TeamOne palp is missing.
- TeacherWe are selecting a preset but it isn't coming up
Bugscope Teamtry refresh (F5) and then click a preset again
- Bugscope TeamThey gather little bits of lights from lots of dim sources
- Bugscope Teamif that doesn't work, cate may need to restart the rxl server
- 4:11 pm
- Bugscope Teamyay!
- Bugscope Teamooo, a mite, nasty little dude
- Bugscope Teamthis one's for scott, because lately we haven't seen any mites
- Bugscope TeamHow cool.
- TeacherThanks. What part of the earwig is the mite on?
Bugscope Teamlooks like it's on the leg
- Bugscope Teammites are my favorite little nastos
- Bugscope TeamFleas are my favorite nastos.
- Bugscope TeamThat is called the trochanter--which is part of the leg.
- Bugscope TeamWe think they die with the host
- TeacherDo they suck blook?
Bugscope TeamWe are not really sure what they do. They may just feed on dirt and goo secreted by the cuticle of the insect
- Bugscope TeamThe dangers of living on your food.
- Teacherblood*
- Bugscope TeamDid we mention Annie is our entomologist currently residing in California?
- Bugscope Teamha! annie. it's good they don't have human sized hot dogs, cause i'd be living on that for sure...
Bugscope TeamHAHahahaha, feeding on hot dog secretions.
- Bugscope TeamYes, I am also in the East Bay...the FARRR East Bay.
- 4:17 pm
- Bugscope Teammake sure to check out preset #4. that's really cool, a spiracle: what insects use to breathe!
- Teacherhey...new group of students... jessica, kimberly, and brittany
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope
- Teacherthanks! thanks for being here with us :)
- Bugscope Teamhere's a spider claw
- Teacherwhat kind of spider?
Bugscope TeamUgh, I am not sure. They all look sort of similar at this magnification. I am not so good with my spider IDs.
- Teacherwhat's that stuff around the claws?
Bugscope Teamthere's some spider hair- called setae and some fungus and mold spores
- Bugscope Teami was just wondering, it could be setae, but i'm not so sure?
- Bugscope TeamSee all the little forked hairs? Those are unique to spiders.
- Teacherhow many eyes does this spider have?
Bugscope TeamMost have eight eyes
- 4:22 pm
- Bugscope TeamThis one goes to eleven.
Bugscope TeamNice.
- TeacherThat's awesome! Thanks - so we are switching to a new group of students now - Megan, Linh, and Jen... so awesome :)
- Bugscope Teamhi megan, linh and jen, welcome to bugscope!
- Teacherdark spot ont he bottom of the pincher, is that discoloration?? dirt? or...
- Bugscope TeamJuju, of course.
- Bugscope Teamheh, juju is own name for unknown dirt, grime, junk, stuff that isn't part of the insect
- Bugscope TeamIt could be dirt or it could be an area where there has been some damage to the cuticle
- Teacherhaha yeah Dr. Korb already warned us
- Bugscope TeamClotho, Lachesis, ...
- Bugscope TeamThis is a male earwig--they have the larger, more rounded pinchers
- 4:27 pm
- Teacherswitching to moth scales - so are these the wings?
Bugscope TeamThis is a super close up of the wings. You can see all the scales that make the wings slippery and that give them their color pattern
- Bugscope Teamthis is just a piece of the moth wing
- Teacherso do these scales shed?
Bugscope Teamyes, often when a moth is stuck in a spider web, it will shed some scales and escape!
- Bugscope Teamwe sometimes find moth scales all over other insects... they kinda get all over stuff, like cat hair...
- Teacherwhat is a spiracle?
Bugscope TeamA spiracle is like a nostril that is for breathing only.
- Bugscope Teamcool
- Bugscope Teama spiracle!
- Bugscope Teamthis is how insects breathe
- Teacherwhere is it on an insect?
Bugscope TeamThey usually have spiracles on each segment of their bodies. The spiracles are attached to a systems of tubes called tracheae, which are sort of like the lungs.
- Bugscope Teamthey don't have lungs, but the air goes into the spiracle and inside the body of the insect
- Bugscope Teamspiracles are usually on the abdomen or the legs
- Bugscope Teammostly the abdomen i think
- Teacherand what is a katydid?
Bugscope Teamthey look like grasshoppers
- Bugscope Teamand there's a piece of juju about to fall into the spiracle
- 4:32 pm
- Bugscope Teamsometimes they have little hairs that are similar to nose hairs- keeping unwanted particles out
- GuestHello, I'm a guest.
Bugscope TeamHello Michele
- Bugscope Teamhi michele, welcome to bugscope, we are online with a school in california
- Bugscope TeamA katydid is a "leaf bug"--they are usually large, noisy, and have wings that are shaped like green leaves.
- TeacherCan you describe what we are seeing?
Bugscope TeamWe are looking at the side of a katydid, near the legs.
- TeacherWhat is at 9:00?
Bugscope Teamlooks like part of the exoskeleton?
- Bugscope TeamTo the left of the screen you can see part of the wings, and to the right of the screen you can see the base of the legs
- Guestdo all spiders have poisonous venom?
Bugscope TeamAll spiders have venom that they use to dissolve the internal tissues of their prey. Not all venom is harmful to humans.
- Guestwhy do female spider eat male spider after they mate?
Bugscope TeamIt is dangerous for male spiders to come close to females because spiders will eat another spider just as quickly as they will eat a fly. Sometimes a female spider would rather have a snack than a mate.
- Bugscope TeamAs a side info for that: males will sometimes spit a little wad of web into the female's face so that won't happen
- TeacherGlad I am not a spider.....
- Bugscope Teamme too
- 4:38 pm
- TeacherSo - we are all done! Thanks for 3 great sessions with my CSU classes!! take care! Michele Korb
- Bugscope Teamremember...
- Bugscope TeamMale spiders sometimes have elaborate courtship behavior that involve playing "songs" on the webs of females to let them know they are not food.
- GuestThank-you. Got to pay attention to class.
- Bugscope Teamthank you for all your great questions and driving
- Bugscope Teamall your chat and images from today's session are saved to your member page: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-125
- Bugscope Teamok, nice session everyone, i'm outtie
- Bugscope Teamchowzers