Connected on 2010-11-08 11:45:00
from Sharon, MA, US
- 10:48 am
- Bugscope Teamcoating sample..
- 10:55 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is now pumping down.
- Bugscope Teamyou can see it in the CCD view of the specimen chamber
- 11:05 am
- 11:11 am
- Bugscope Teamsweet!
- 11:16 am
- 11:21 am
- Bugscope Teamhi Horace!
- Bugscope Teamwe are making the presets for today's Bugscope session
- Guestaha
- Guestthis is amazing
- 11:27 am
- Bugscope Teamwe're working our way around the sample in the 'scope, checking out the cool places for the class to visit when they get on
- 11:32 am
- Guestit's fascinating
- Guestwhen is the actual bugscope session?
- Bugscope Teamit's at 11:45, in about 10 minutes, runs to 1:15 this time zone
- Guestthanks, is it ok if i watch or is it just the class who can?
- Bugscope Teamperfectly fine for you to watch, Horace
- Bugscope Teamwe are happy to have you here
- TeacherHi are session begins at 12:45 right?
- 11:37 am
- Bugscope Team11:45 our time, like in a few minutes, right Maddy?
- TeacherYes- the kids aren't here yet.
- TeacherWhat login do I use for the chat stations? Guest?
- Bugscope Teamyou should be able to log in as students with no password
- Bugscope Teamif that does not work for some reason you can use Guest
- Bugscope Teamyeah Guest then. we have some things to work out with this new interface, I'm sorry
- Bugscope TeamI'd like to try to get a few more presets (this is Scot)
- Bugscope Teambut please let me know as soon as you would like control
- 11:44 am
- TeacherThe microscope is easier to control this year
- Bugscope Teamthat was one thing we were shooting for
- Bugscope Teambut you can see we don't have the magnification working right yet, and the student login not quite there, I guess
- Bugscope Teamif you're ready I can let you have the 'scope now
- Bugscope Teamwe have click to center when you place the cursor on the view screen
- TeacherOkay
- Bugscope Teamdid away with driving directly, since it was hard to stop and people could easily run off the edge of the world
- Teacherstudents just came in
- Bugscope Teamcool take it away and please let me know as soon as you have questions
- 11:49 am
- Bugscope Teamtoday we have one of the nicest bees we've ever had
- Bugscope Teamhere we're looking at the caterpillar's prolegs
- Bugscope Teamcaterpillars have six legs, as all insects do, but they also have these prolegs, which have little hooks called crochets
- Bugscope Teamthis is a flying aphid caught up in the caterpillar's arms
- Guestwhat are we looking at
Bugscope Teampresently we are looking at a caterpillar -- I'm not sure what kind
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its head, to the top, and its simple bump-like eyes, which are called 'stemmata.'
- Guestdo you have a honey bee?
Bugscope Teamyes we do.
- 11:55 am
- Guestmay we see it please
- Bugscope Teamthe honeybee is to the north of the caterpillar, and you can move the screen to the left to see the presets -- the places Cate found that looked cool to go to.
- Bugscope Teamwhoever is driving -- your teacher right now -- can click on a preset and drive the 'scope to that place
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the hooks called 'hamuli' that the bee (wasps do this as well) use to connect the fore- and hindwings together for flying
- Bugscope Teamoops now this is the head, of course
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that the bee has a 'hairy' eye, and you can see its antennae and its mouthparts
- Bugscope Teamplus a couple forelegs
- Bugscope Teaminsects often have a lot of setae -- the things that look like hair -- because they help them sense their surroundings
- Bugscope Teamplus the antennae, in particular, pick up chemical signals -- smells or scents -- in the air
- GuestWhy do they have hairy eyes?
- 12:00 pm
- Bugscope Teamit may help in gathering pollen, although I don't know why they would want pollen on their eyes, and it may help them sense wind speed and direction
- Bugscope Teamfruit flies have little bristles that sense windspeed/direction
- Guest what are the little hexongon on there eves
Bugscope Teamthe hexagons are the individual facets of the compound eye, called 'ommatidia.'
- Bugscope Teamthe hexagonal shape is best for close packing and fitting into a dome-like shape
- Guestare hunybees colerblind
Bugscope Teamthey can see color, but they favor certain colors over other ones
- Bugscope Teamfrom the web: Flower colors that particularly attract bees are blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow.
- Bugscope Teamthey are said not to be able to see red
- Guestare these antennae
Bugscope Teamyes you can see the antennae now; one in the foreground and one further back
- 12:06 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae have lots of chemoreceptors on them so they can smell the air, and the flowers, and pheromones that other bees or other insects might produce
- Bugscope Teamin the background we see a pool of silver paint that Cate put down to help hold the bee onto the stub
- Guestdo they feel with thier antennae
Bugscope Teamthey can feel with their antennae but mostly they are used to collect chemical signals in the air
- Guestwhy are their antennae striped??
Bugscope Teamthe antennae are segmented so they can move in many directions, and that makes them look striped
- Bugscope Teamsome of the antennal segments may not be grounded as well as others, and they may glow when the electrons we are using to image them get stuck
- Bugscope Teamthis is really cool -- you can see tenent setae, which allow the bee to stick to surfaces, and you can see pollen grains
- 12:11 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe little hairlike things with flattened ends are tenent setae, which are sticky
- Bugscope Teamthere are a variety of pollen grains on various insects/arthropods in the 'scope today
- Bugscope Teaminsects and similar arthropods like centipedes and rolypolies have exoskeletons - they do not have bones or a skeleton at all on the inside of the body
- Bugscope Teaman exoskeleton is like a shell -- a shrimp shell, for example
- Bugscope Teamif you wore a suit of armor, that is sort of what it is like to be an insect -- you would not be able to feel things touching the suit of armor
- Guestdo they use all the pollen they collect?
Bugscope Teamthey do not use all of it, so we can take some of it without endangering the bees' chances of survival as a colony
- 12:16 pm
- Bugscope Teamhoney is made from the nectar that attracts the bees to the flowers, where they also collect pollen that they then disperse to other flowers
- Guestwhy is the pollen grain spiked
Bugscope Teamsome are spiked and some are not -- the pollen has to protect itself from desiccating but also needs to be able to passively attach to things/insects so it can be dispersed
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the stinger as well as one of the round spikey pollen grains
- Guesthow big is the stinger??
- Bugscope Teamif there were no bees we would not have as many crops that are dependent on bees pollinating them
- Guestdo all bees have stingers
- Guestdoes a bee die after it stings someone
Bugscope Teamhoneybees die because the stinger is attached to the end of the body and is pulled out when they sting someone, leaving a big hole in the body
- 12:22 pm
- Guesthow much do bees eat?
- Bugscope Teamthe singer has a little venom pump on it like an outboard motor that detaches with the stinger and continues to pump venom into the place that is stung
- Guesthow do bees communicate?
Bugscope Teamone way they communicate is by dancing -- to indicate to other bees the direction of a good nectar source
- Guestdo bees sleep?
Bugscope Teamthey don't sleep like we do but they become somnolent, sort of like sleeping
- Guesthow long do bees live
- Guestdo bees play ?
Bugscope TeamI don't think they do what we would consider playing.
- Guest do bees get marrid
- Guesthow old do they live?
Bugscope Teamthe queen generally lives 2 to 5 years; drone bees live maybe 40 to 50 days (males); worker bees (females) live 1 to 4 months
- Bugscope Teamthis one of the set of clips, called hamuli, that attaches the fore- and hindwings together so that the bee (wasps do this too) flies with essentially two rather than four wings.
- 12:28 pm
- Teacherwe are switching classes now
- Bugscope Teama question I missed answering was about how many eggs a queen lays. if she is in good shape -- healthy -- she can lay 2000 eggs/day
- Guestare bees always yellow
Bugscope TeamI am not sure about this -- it seems like they are yellow, brown, and black all at once
- TeacherCan we put the first picture back on- I don't see it in the presets
Bugscope TeamI don't remember what it was -- was it the caterpillar head?
- TeacherThanks
- Bugscope Teambee right back...
- Teacherfound it
- Bugscope Teamoh ok sorry
- 12:33 pm
- Bugscope Teamthere are a lot of critters on the stub today
- Bugscope Teambut this is a nice bee
- Bugscope Teamwe have another bee for tomorrow but it may not be as nice as this one
- Bugscope Teamthe dome there is one of the three ocelli
- Bugscope Teamthe simple eyes that many flying insects have
- 12:39 pm
- Guestwhy do the bees have hair
Bugscope Teamthe hairs all insects have help them sense their environment
- Guestwhy do bees have dots
- Guestwhat are the dots on the eyes
- Guestwhat are the dots on the eyes
Bugscope Teamthe dots are the individual facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- Guestwhy is there hair on his eyes
Bugscope Teamthese hairs might serve a few purposes like for sensing when it is too close to something, or feeling the direction the wind currents are moving, or maybe to even help catch pollen from plants and land them on other plants
- Guestwhy does a bee have hair on it
Bugscope Teamthe hair on a bee also likely helps with thermoregulation -- not getting too cold or hot
- Bugscope Teambees can't see the color red. just an interesting tidbit
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the two antennae now
- GuestWhats the tube over the eye
Bugscope Teamthat is an antenna
- Guestwhats that tube above the eye
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae are segmented so they can bend
- Guest whats the tube ubove the eye
Bugscope Teamthe antennae are covered with chemosensors -- allowing the bee to pick up scents in the air
- 12:45 pm
- Bugscope Teamnow this is cool
- Guestwhat are the circles
- Bugscope Teamthese are placoid sensilla- which are the chemosensors
- Bugscope TeamI am at the 'scope, and I just took the mag up to 2560x so we could see the placoid sensilla on the surface of the antenna
- Guestwhat are the circles for?
- Bugscope Teamoops Cate beat me to it of course
- Bugscope Teamthey're little chemical sensors
- Bugscope Teaminsects have exoskeletons -- they have shells like shrimp, and like if you were wearing a suit of armor
- Bugscope Teamand they don't have noses
- Bugscope Teamso they have hairs that stick through the shell, and sensilla like we just saw -- that give them information about their environment
- Bugscope Teamhere this is cool -- the hairs are called tenent setae, and they are sticky. they help the bee stick to surfaces
- Guestare the pollen baskets here
Bugscope TeamI think they are nearby but not right here -- we could go to low mag to see where we are
- Bugscope Teamyou can see pollen now -- the little oval things
- 12:51 pm
- Bugscope Teamwhoa cool!
- Bugscope TeamI think this is the pollen comb, and the pollen basket is on the opposite side of the leg
- Bugscope Teamfrom the photos I have seen it looks like the pollen baskets are on the outside of the hind legs of the bees
- Bugscope Teamthere were some mold spores too
- 12:56 pm
- Guestwhat are the spikes on the pollen
Bugscope Teami think the spikes help the pollen get caught in the insect hairs. There are some especially spikey pollen grains that we find more often that travels very well on the insects
- Guestwhat are mold spores
Bugscope Teammold spores are much like pollen; they land on things and from the places they land, mold grows
- Guestwhere are the pollin brushes
Bugscope Teamwe are so close we can see only pieces of a few of the brushes
- Bugscope Teamhoney bees are the ones with stingers that stay in humans after stinging
- Bugscope Teambees are said to use pollen, mixing it with saliva, to form a type of high-protein bread to feed their young
- Guesthow long do they live after stining somthing
- Guestthe stinger dose not look that sharp
Bugscope Teamthe duller it is the more it hurts when it pokes into your skin
- 1:01 pm
- Guestis the stinger barbed
Bugscope Teamyou can see that this one does not look very barbed. it may be that there are more barbs further up the shaft of the stinger
- Bugscope Teamwe also may be looking at it at a weird angle possibly
- Guesthow fast can bees go
Bugscope Teamthey can fly about 20 mph
- Guestwhy does a bee sting hurt?
Bugscope Teamit has a venom in it that hurts, and there is a little venom gland attached to the sting that continues to pump venom into your skin
- Bugscope TeamI read that honeybees will not always lose their stingers when they sting; it's just that when they sting something with thick skin, like us, the stinger gets stuck and tears away from the bee's body; they can sting other bees repeatedly, apparently
- Guestwhy does a bee die after it stings
Bugscope Teamthe stinger is literally ripped out of the bee when it stings a mammal. There is a muscle that also has a venom sack that is pulled out as well. The bee bleeds to death afterwards
- Guestis the bee color blind?
Bugscope Teamit cannot see colors such as red but can see violet, blue, white, purple, yellow...
- 1:07 pm
- Guestcan many bee stings kill you?\
Bugscope Teamyes, especially if you have an allergic reaction to the sting
- Bugscope Teambees can be dangerous if you are allergic to their stings. As little as one sting could kill someone who was highly allergic
- GuestHow many bees are in one hive?
Bugscope Teamthere are said to be as many as 35,000 in the summer and maybe 5000 in the winter months
- Guestwhat are the spikes on the pollen
Bugscope Teamthe spikes on the pollen help it attach to things that can then carry it long distances
- Guestwhat are the hooks
Bugscope Teamthose are hamuli- they hook together the fore- and hind wings so that the wings will act as one when they fly
Bugscope Teamonly bees, wasps, and ants have these
- Bugscope Teamthe hooks dont hurt the bee
- Guestwhat are the hairs used for on the right side
Bugscope Teamwe are not sure about the hairs -- the microsetae -- on the wing
- 1:12 pm
- Guesthow long can a bee live
Bugscope Teamthe queen may live 2 to 5 years; drones may live 40 to 50 days; workers -- the females -- may live 1 to 4 months
- Guesthow can you tell the diffrenc between the typs of bees?
Bugscope Teamit's easy to tell the difference between bumble bees and honey bees. Bumble bees are a lot bigger and brighter. But between an africanized honey bee and some other type of honey bee- I'm not sure
- Guestwhat is the average life time of a bee
Bugscope Teamprobably a few months
- Bugscope Teamqueen bees are larger, then drones, then workers
Bugscope Teamwhen they are all together in the hive, the queens can be hard to tell apart even for the beekeepers, so sometimes they put a little dot on them to tell them apart
- Guesthow big do bees get
- Guesthow do bees see in the dark hive
Bugscope Teamthey likely use their antennae to get around, like ants do
- Bugscope Teamsome ants, which are related to bees and wasps, do not have eyes at all; they do all of the communication by scent -- by producing and sensing different signal smells
- Guestcan a bee sting though someone's clothing
Bugscope TeamI think they can if the clothing is tight to the body and thin
- Guestdo bees sting other bees
Bugscope Teamyes sometimes bees will infiltrate other hives and get stung by the colony guard bees
- Guesthow does a bee communicate?
- Bugscope Teambees will communicate through stinging- pheromones are released, letting the others know to come and help sting. The pheromones can be detected by their antennae
- Guesthow do bees comunucate
Bugscope Teamsometimes they communicate through a dance that will indicate how far away, in what direction, and how much pollen they have found
- 1:19 pm
- Bugscope Teamwhen they sting each other, bees do not lose their stingers
- Guestwere do bees put there eggs
Bugscope Teamthey go somewhere in the hive, not sure where. All eggs, whether they were fertilized or not, hatch. The fertilized ones are the females. Female bees are the ones that do all the work and when you see a bee, they are usually female
- Guestwe learned a lot
- Guestdo bees sleep
Bugscope Teamthey don't really sleep but they can remain motionless and conserve energy -- in a kind of 'somnolent' state
- Guestdo bees have tungs
Bugscope Teamtheir tongue is called a 'glossa'
- Guesthow many eggs does a queen bee lay
Bugscope Teamit can lay, if it is healthy, 2000 eggs per day
- Guestthank you
- GuestThank you for answering our questions
- Guesthow big is the queen
Bugscope Teamthe queen, as Cate said, often is not much bigger than the drones -- it has to be able to fly so it does not get huge
- TeacherThanks Scot and Cate we have to go now- the answers were terrific!
- Bugscope Teamwe are glad you all had a good time looking at the bee up close
- Guestby
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamThat was fun!
- Bugscope TeamBye!
- 1:24 pm
- Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-052
- Bugscope Teamthat is your member page, below
