Connected on 2010-06-10 11:00:00
from Lethbridge, AB, CA
- 10:14 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning!
- Bugscope Teamnaturek8 if you are still there we are getting ready to set up for today's session
- 10:21 am
- Bugscope TeamThat looks neat!
- Bugscope TeamCate found it.
- 10:27 am
- 10:32 am
- 10:38 am
- 10:45 am
- TeacherWe are just going to head out to recess, we will see you at 11:20
- TeacherWe are just about to head out for recess, we will see you at 11:20
- Bugscope TeamThank You see you in a little while.
- Bugscope Teamthis is Scott
- Teacherhi
- Teacherhello
- Bugscope TeamHello!
- 10:50 am
- Teacherhello
- Bugscope TeamMrs B can you see our replies?
- 10:59 am
- Bugscope Teamhi T!
- Teacheryes, we can now
- Teachersee you at 11:20
- Bugscope Teamoops Cool I was just calling
- Bugscope Teamgood deal see you soon
- 11:11 am
- Bugscope TeamVery cool
- 11:21 am
- Teacherwhat is that insect?
- Bugscope Teamthis is a fruit fly
- Teacherwe are ready
- Bugscope Teamthis is a closeup of one of the eyes
- Bugscope Teamyou now have control of the microscope
- Bugscope Teamyou can take the magnification down, for example, to see where you are at the moment
- Bugscope Teamyou can also click on any one of the presets and the microscope will drive to that location
- Teacherhow do we zoom out
- Bugscope Teamon the top right, next to the image, you should see controls that say Magnify, + -
- Teacherwhat are the leaf things pointing up?
- Bugscope Teamif you click on the minus it will zoom out
- Bugscope Teamunder the "Magnification" heading
- Teachercan you zoom out for us
- Bugscope Teamthe things that are pointing up are setae -- tiny insect hairs.
- Bugscope Teamthose seate are mechanosensory -- that is, they sense the wind, in this case
- Bugscope Teamoops I meant to type 'setae'
- Bugscope Teamthis is the top of the head of the fruit fly
- Teacherwhat is it?
- Bugscope Teamand we are now looking at three domes that are called ocelli -- they are also eyes
- Teacherwhat are the bumps for?
- Teachercan you zoom out more?
- 11:26 am
- Bugscope Teamthe ocelli are called 'simple' eyes -- the bumps.
- Bugscope Teamthere now you can see the whole head and part of the body
- Bugscope Teamthe head is center right
- Bugscope Teamand the thorax -- the 'chest' -- is to the left of the head
- Teacherccan you zoom out more?
- Bugscope Teamyou can see a wing in the lower left corner
- Bugscope Teamthe bubbles you see around the fruit fly is the carbon tape with some silver paint on it, This is how we fix the insects on the specimen holder
- Bugscope Teamthere you go!
- Teachercool! can we zoom in on the wing
- Bugscope Teamfruit flies are true flies, which are called Diptera, which means 'two wings'
- Teacheris that a rip in the wing?
Bugscope TeamYes but it happened after it died most likely. Once insects die they dry out and become brittle.
- Bugscope Teamthe wing has tiny setae on it too
- Teacherwhat kills a fruit fly?
Bugscope Teamthey are very small, so they can get eaten by larger insects, and they can get squished because sometimes they don't pay attention as much as 'normal' flies
- Teacherwhat is the strongest bug?
Bugscope Teamit could be an ant
Bugscope TeamAnts can lift about 10 times their weight,but a species of dung beetle can pull more than 1000 times its body weight, making it the world's strongest insect.
Bugscope TeamOne study says the dung beetle is the strongest insect, although there is a mite that's stronger but is an arachnid, not an insect
- Teachercan we see what the legs are like?
- 11:31 am
- Teacherwhere do you get the bugs?
Bugscope TeamSometimes we bring them from our own houses, we get donations from the entomology department, and we occasionally have left-overs from samples schools send in
- Bugscope Teamoh and its 50 times for ants forry
- Bugscope Teamsorry*
- Bugscope Teamit is hard to see the ends of the legs on this fruit fly, which is likely why we didn't get any presets of them for you
- Bugscope Teamyou can image a colony of dung beetles carrying off a cow patty
- Bugscope Teamew
- Teacherhaha
- Teacherhow long ago did tis fruit fly die
Bugscope Teamwe've had this fruit fly for quite a few years actually. Maybe around 4 years
Bugscope TeamI think it is one we have had for a year or so
- Teacherwhat is the hole for?
Bugscope Teamthe hole is a spiracle, which is one of a number of breathing pores that insects have
- Bugscope Teamoops don't listen to me -- Cate has a better sense of time, and she makes most of the samples
- Teacherhow did you pick it up?
Bugscope TeamWe use small sharp-tipped tweezers called forceps to position the insects on the sample stub
- 11:36 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a mosquito!
- Bugscope Teamsee the eyes!
- Teacherwhat is the tube like thing?
Bugscope Teamthe tube is the fascicle which holds the mouth parts of the mosquito
- Bugscope Teamthe eye facets, called ommatidia, are the little round things
- Teacherhow many eyes does it have?
Bugscope Teamit has two compound eyes, but we can see that they themselves have hundreds of facets
- Teacherwhat is the thing that they suck blood out of called?
Bugscope Teamthe proboscis, same thing we call an elephant's trunk!
- Bugscope Teamor facscicle, as Cate said
- Teachercan mosquitos suck blood out of human eyes?
Bugscope Teamthey would be better off to try to get blood from very near the eye, since it doesn't have blood inside it
Bugscope TeamAs long as the tiny veins aren't too deep, then it seems plausible. However, mosquitoes may not think it's a place to eat since the temperature and chemical signatures would be quite different than skin
- Bugscope Teamfascicle likely refers to the observation that the inner components of the biting parts are pressed together like fasces.
- Teachercan you zoom in on the tongue?
- 11:41 am
- Teacherwhat is the whole for in the top left corner?
Bugscope Teamthat was the pedicel -- the base of one of the antennae
- Bugscope Teammore likely place is your eyelid
- Teacherwhat are the things inside?
Bugscope Teamthe things inside include a siphon tube that transports the blood to the head to the guy, and four stylets that cut your skin, and one more part that I am not sure what its purpose is.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the proboscis, but this mosquito does not bite -- it is a male mosquito
- Teacherhave you ever gotten a dragonfly?
Bugscope Teamyes but they are usually too big to look at with this microscope. Sometimes we can look at the younger ones or just their heads
- Bugscope Teamthe siphon tube has a separate small duct next to it that forces saliva into the wound
- Teacherwhat kind of beetle is it?
Bugscope Teammaybe Cate knows? it is large and has an interesting divided body
- Bugscope TeamDragonfly heads fall off very easily, even when they are alive.
- 11:47 am
- Bugscope TeamI'm not sure. It's some sort of black beetle
- Teacherdo you have a picture of a drangonfly that you could send us?
Bugscope Teamif you go to the Bugscope home page and click 'look around,' you can request dragonfly images from previous sessions.
Bugscope TeamBecause this is live, we can only see what's in the prepared sample. This is a link to a search of our previous sessions for dragonflies: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/search.php?q=dragonfly
- Bugscope Teamwe are looking at the underside of the head, and we can see the mandibles folded at the top
- Bugscope Teamthe search feature will find them for you
- Bugscope Teamthis is an ant
- Teacherwhat's the thing in the center of it;s head?
Bugscope Teamthat is it's mouth and mouthparts. It has little feelers around its mouth called palps that look like little legs
- Bugscope Teamants have very busy mouths
- Bugscope Teamso we can see two sets of palps, which are accessory mouthparts that help with feeding, and we can see the mandibles, crossed...
- Bugscope Teamthe palps help the insect to taste and manipulate food
- Teachercan we see a close up of the antennea?
- Bugscope Teamants do a lot of 'texting' using their antennae
- Bugscope Teamthey can smell things with them, for example, so it would be a scent text
- 11:53 am
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae help the ant communicate with the other ants, and sometimes the communications are via chemical scent.
- Teacherhow come there are hairs on the antennae?
Bugscope Teamin this case many of the hairs, or setae, are not mechanosensory but chemosensory -- they are like smell detectors
- Bugscope Teamthey help the insects feel what's going on around it through its hard shell
- Bugscope Teamthis is the ant's compound eye
- Teacherccan we see the abdomen?
- Bugscope Teamthere is the abdomen. which ant people call the 'gaster.'
- Teacheris that the abdomen?
Bugscope Teamyes in the center of the screen now
- Teachercan we zoom in a little more?
Bugscope Teamit looks kind of like sheets of armor, doesn't it?
- 11:58 am
- Bugscope Teamsome ants have stingers, and some have little turrets that squirt formic acid from their gaster -- from their abdomen
- Bugscope Teamthis is a handsome ladybug
- Teacherhow many bugs are there in the world?
Bugscope Teamthere are hundreds of thousands of species, and there are many that have not been named yet
- Teacherwhat is the thing on the bottom part of his head?
- Teacherwhat are the two pipe looking things on each side?
Bugscope Teamthe vacuum cleaner nozzles are palps on the ladybug, the little horns are palps as well
- Teacherwhat kind of ladybug is it?
Bugscope Teamthis is probably an Asian lady beetle
- Bugscope Teamthey help taste and move around food
- 12:03 pm
- Teachercan we see the wings?
- Bugscope Teamwings are usually hidden under the elytra
- Bugscope Teamthe elytra is the back shell covering that when it flies lifts away
- Bugscope Teamyes as Cate says they are hidden under the elytra -- the shell on the back
- Bugscope Teamthis is sugar, and it has a butterfly or moth scale stuck to it at the top left
- Bugscope Teamtiny little sugar crystals
- Bugscope Teamother insects that have scales are mosquitoes, which we have seen, and silverfish, and very few weevils and beetles
- 12:08 pm
- Teacherthat is very neat
- Teacherour class is really enjoying this
- Bugscope Teamthis is what a black scale looks like up close
- Bugscope TeamCool!
- Bugscope Teamwe are glad to hear that!
- Bugscope Teamthis is something we do not see often -- the tip of a spider's leg
- Teacherwhat kind of spider is it?
Bugscope Teamwe aren't really sure. It is small so it's not a black widow or a brown recluse
- Bugscope Teamyou can see one of its claws here
- Teacherwhere is the claw?
- Bugscope Teamthe claw is mostly hidden, but we can see it in the very center, curved upward, to the right
- Bugscope Teamthe little pads with it have tiny sticky setae on it that help the spider climb walls, for example
- 12:14 pm
- Teacherhow long ago did it die?
Bugscope Teamthis one died in the last year sometime
- Bugscope Teamhere you can see another scale, to the right, and lots of frond-like setae that we think are vibration-sensing
- Teacherwe have to get ready for gym now, our class really enjoyed the session and we learned a lot!!!! Thank you so much for spending this time with us.
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-038/
- TeacherThis is the second time that I have done this with a grade two class it was wonderful
- Bugscope Teamjust below is your member page, where you can look up this session
- Bugscope TeamMrs B that is great!
- Bugscope Teamglad you all had fun
- Bugscope TeamThank You for letting us know.
