Connected on 2010-10-18 16:00:00
from Hayward, CA, US
- 2:54 pm
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down...
- 3:22 pm
- Bugscope TeamCranefly
- 3:28 pm
- 3:34 pm
- 3:42 pm
- 3:48 pm
- Bugscope TeamHello!
- TeacherWe will be there in 10 minutes :) YEAH!!
- 3:56 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is kind of cool -- a little bouquet of mold spores on the cricket's compound eye
- 4:02 pm
- TeacherThat's awesom!
- TeacherAesome!
- Teacherawesome!!!!!
- Bugscope Teamthis sample has a lot of mold on it -- I'm sorry
- Bugscope Teamall insects have six legs, or arms
- TeacherThat's ok - what are the hairs on the claw? How do the spikes function?
- Bugscope Teamand many of them also have six claws
- Bugscope Teamsome of the tiny hairs are microsetae, some of the larger hairs are setae, and some of what we see might be called bristles
- Bugscope Teamsome of the larger setae/bristles are mechanosensory -- they let the wasp know when it is touching something
- Bugscope Teaminsects and other similar arthropods do not have skin with nerves in it like we do. instead they have an exoskeleton, or a shell, like a shrimp, for example
- Bugscope Teamso they have their skeleton on the outside
- Bugscope Teamit's like if you were walking around in a suit of armor -- you wouldn't be able to feel anything touching the surface of the armor
- 4:07 pm
- Bugscope Teambut if you had little hairs, like cat or rat whiskers, sticking through the armor, or shell, you could use those to help sense your environment
- Bugscope Teamthat is why they say Monarch butterflies can smell with their feet -- they have chemosensory setae on their feet
- TeacherWhat is this fun looking juncture?
- Bugscope Teamthese are tarsi, which is what the final 4 or 5 segments of one of the limbs are called -- the distal segments
- TeacherIs this for being able to bend? A joint? are there ligaments inside?
- Bugscope Teamat the body there might be a condyle, then a femur, then a tibia, and then a number of tarsi, or tarsomeres, including the end of the limb with the claw
- Bugscope Teamthere are ligaments, or tendons, inside
- TeacherA leg model?
- Bugscope Teamthere is a tendon-like thing inside the tarsus that pulls the claw to close it; it's called an 'unguitractor.'
- 4:12 pm
- Bugscope Teammuch like one of those claw-like tools you might have to reach something on a high shelf
- TeacherSo tarsus -= leg segment? Like metacarpals?
- Bugscope Teamwell a tarsus is like a forearm segment
- Bugscope Teamcarpals I think are more analogous to claws
- TeacherTell us about the eyes and jaws, oh wise one :)
Bugscope Teamheh. okay the eyes can be simple, like each of a spider's (usually) eight eyes, or they can be compound (complex), like where we are now
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that there are thousands of ommatidia -- the individual facets, or lenses, in a way, of the compound eye
- Bugscope Teamif you had compound eyes, you would have much better peripheral vision, certainly
- 4:17 pm
- Bugscope Teamand you would also have the ability to sense changes in the visual field very quickly
- TeacherDoes it create one image or many? Can they lose an omatidia and still see?
Bugscope Teammany images that are combined in the brain into a cohesive whole, we think
- Bugscope Teamso if an ommatidium has some juju on it the insect can still see -- like having some kind crud on your windshield
- Bugscope Teamkinda...
- Bugscope Teamthis is a rolypoly, and the head is at the top
- Bugscope Teambut its antennae are busted off
- Bugscope Teamand it is supremely like moldy, like a bowl of mold
- Teacherhi this is veronica
- Bugscope TeamHi Veronica!
- Bugscope TeamYou can see the left antenna base has someone's scale in it
- Teachercan you help me drive the microscope over the image? can we see the back
Bugscope Teamthe samples are mounted on their backs, coated with gold-palladium alloy and stuck down on carbon tape; they also have silver paint to help ground them
- 4:22 pm
- Bugscope Teamkind of a long way of saying that we cannot turn the little dude over
- Bugscope Teamto see its back
- Teacherwhat are we seeing on the scales
- Bugscope Teamwe think the holes make the scale that much lighter in weight
- Teacherwhat are the holes for?
Bugscope Teamthey make the scales lighter and the holes allow the light to refract and give the scales color
- Bugscope Teamsometimes the holes have pigment granules in them
- Bugscope Teamyes! as Cate says, the shape of the scale and the separation between the ridges can produce structural colors, in addition to the colors produced by the pigment
- TeacherHi, this is John. I'm from Wisconsin (Madison). I want to try a new specimen.
Bugscope TeamJohn it looks like we're on the bee compound eye now
- Bugscope Teamsee the ommatidia? the individual facets of the eye?
- TeacherWhat is this exactly?
Bugscope Teamthe is on the honeybee eye. the hairs are coming out of it which are called setae
- Bugscope TeamI needa back off and let Cate answer...
- 4:28 pm
- TeacherWhy do they need spikes on their eyes?
Bugscope Teamthey might help with pollination by collecting them on it
- Bugscope Teamon fruit fly eyes we see lots of smaller setae that are said to provide information about windspeed and wind direction
- TeacherWhat is the actual size of this eye? Also, how dense are the hairs on the eyes?
- Bugscope Teamin between the ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthe eye is about 2 mm or so in diameter. for some reason the micron bar is not working on the microscope right now
- TeacherCould we please get a better focus and contrast?
- TeacherOut of curiosity, what is the average lifespan of a fly?
Bugscope Teamthey live a month to a month and a half; they are said to be able to mate successfully within 36 hours of pupating
- 4:33 pm
- Teacherhow often to they have new babies?
- Bugscope Teaminsect jaws, which you had asked about earlier, open from side to side rather than up and down like a human or dog or cat or lion mouth.....are not
- Bugscope Teambut not all insects have jaws
- Bugscope Teammany flies, like house flies and fruit flies, have sponging mouthparts
- Teacheris the magnification working? We keep seeing, 2666. This is Joanna!
- Teacherwhat is the dark black spot in the upper middle of the image?
- Bugscope Teamthe bee, here, has a kind of tongue-like proboscis that is called a 'glossa'
- Bugscope Teamsome adult insects do not have mouths because they may not eat at all as adults
- Teacherwhat are we seeing on the spider?
- Bugscope Teamsome adult insects may live only for a few hours
- Teacherhow do they survive if they don't eat?
- TeacherNow I see the slashing mouth.Can we see the black widow spider with the hourglass?
- Bugscope Teamhere, on the wasp, we can see forked mouthparts -- jaws, or mandibles -- that open left and right like little gates
- 4:39 pm
- TeacherDo they break their food in half, or cut it down like a lawnmower?
- TeacherWhen they cut their food, do their arms help bring it into the mouth part? Or is this one of the insects who don't eat as adults?
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that the compound eye is not completely oval. there's an area below the scape of the antenna where the vestiture encroaches on the eye
- Bugscope TeamHello Beth!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see where the antennae are connected to the head with ball-and-socket joints
- TeacherWould you please drive the microscope on the black widow?
- TeacherDo the antane sockets between the eyes work like a hip joint?
Bugscope Teamyes much like a hip joint
- TeacherHelp...
- Teacherwhat is this?
- Bugscope Teamhello!
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the applicator sticks Cate put on the stub to hold the spider up.
- TeacherPlease, please, the black widow! Thanks, this is Joanna
- 4:44 pm
- Bugscope TeamI'm going to use the microscope controls....
- Teacherthanks
- TeacherHi, this is Sarah and Patrick
- TeacherHow much does this equipment cost??
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the spider's claws
- TeacherHow does the spider use its claws?
- Bugscope Teamwhen we got it
- TeacherWe'll take 2
- Teacher:-)
- Bugscope TeamI'm sorry we really cannot see much of the body today.
- 4:49 pm
- TeacherWhat are we seeing now?
- Bugscope Teamthis is what was left of the black widow's body
- Bugscope Teamthe cephalothorax
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the legs are broken off, most of them, from the body
- Bugscope Teamthe abdomen was missing as well...
- TeacherAre the legs hollow?
- Bugscope Teamyes they aere
- Bugscope Teamoops
- Bugscope Teamspiders have this really cool thing they do called autotomizing, in which they can release a leg, for example, just drop it off, when they sense toxin entering it
- Bugscope Teamthis one might have given up too many legs
- Bugscope Teamcricket claw
- 4:55 pm
- TeacherWhat other specimens could one send to Bugscope? Shrimp? Other arthropods?
- Bugscope Teamsee the mold spores?
- TeacherCool mold spores!
- Bugscope Teamshrimp would be big, but small insects and arthropods are great
- Bugscope Teamwhat we like in particular are insects that are specialized in some way
- Bugscope Teamor -- they're not insects -- ticks
- Bugscope Teamearwigs are cool because they often have mites on them
- Bugscope Teamroaches are not that that interesting because they are generalized
- TeacherOk -the is Dr. Korb again - our time is up! thanks for the great information! See you tomorrow afternoon again!
- Bugscope Teameven praying mantids are not that interesting
- Bugscope TeamSee You!
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope Teamsee you tomorrow evening!