Connected on 2010-10-27 09:00:00
from Williamston, MI, US
- 7:58 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down...
- 8:28 am
- 8:34 am
- 8:40 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are making the presets now...
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Wyatt!
- Guestgood morning
- 8:46 am
- Bugscope Teamwe're making the presets for today's session, which starts at 9 our time in Illinois
- 8:51 am
- 8:58 am
- Bugscope Teamspider brochosomes
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Sara!
- TeacherMornin' We're here...just getting ready.
- 9:03 am
- Bugscope Teamso this is one of the three ocelli on the top of the yellowjacket's head
- Bugscope Teamone of the three 'simple' eyes
- Bugscope Teamcompared to the compound eyes, which you should be able to see at lower mag, and/or by clicking on the preset for the head of the yellowjacket
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions or if you have any problems
- Bugscope Teamthese are very nice sample
- Bugscope Teamheh samples
- Teacherokay...lots of questions from the kids. What are the "spikes?"
- Bugscope Teamthe spikes are 'setae' on the top of the head, and microsetae
- Bugscope Teamsetae, pronounced see-tee, are sensory
- Teacherwhat are they for?
Bugscope Teamthey are there to help the insect know when it is bumping into things
- Bugscope Teamsetae can be mechanosensory, letting the insect know if wind is blowing on it or something is touching it
- Bugscope Teamthey can also be thermosensory, letting the insect know if something is hot or cold
- 9:08 am
- Bugscope Teamand as Cate says, some setae are chemosensory, allowing the insect to smell/taste its environment
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eyes now, and the mandibles, which open like a gate, from side to side, and the antennae
- Teacherwe love the image of the yellowjacket's compound eyes!!! how many lenses make up a compund eye?
Bugscope Teamthere may be 3000 to 5000 lenses in those particular eyes; that is an estimate, but people have counted them before
- Bugscope Teamthe individual facets -- the lenses -- are called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the front of the head, and the little leaf-like things we see are scales
- Teacherwhat are the black specks?
Bugscope Teamthose are where scales used to sit before they were blown off at some point
- Bugscope Teamthey didn't belong to the insect, but were probably in a container with a moth or butterfly
- Bugscope Teamyes! you can see where the scales shifted or were blown off of the surface of the head -- they don't belong to the wasp
- Bugscope Teamha Cate beat me to it
- 9:14 am
- Teachermatthew wants to know more about how the mouth work? Is there just an opening behind the mandibles?
Bugscope Teamyes! the mouth opens from side to side like a gate, and behind it is the opening of the mouth
- Bugscope Teaminsect jaws -- the mandibles -- open sideways compared to our jaws
- Bugscope Teamyour lower jaw is called a mandible, and your upper jaw, attached to your skull, is called a maxilla
- Bugscope Teamsome of the stuff we see on the proboscis is pollen
- TeacherHannah is checking out the proboscis. She wonders how it curls up?
Bugscope Teamthat is its "resting point". When it wants to use it, hemolypmph (bug blood) fills it up and causes it to open up. It's like those new years noise makers you blow into
- TeacherLuke wants to know how long the proboscis is when it's stretched out?
- TeacherIs the pollen the stuff that looks like dust?
Bugscope Teamno I think all that stuff are scales
- Bugscope Teamthe proboscis could be several millimeters long, maybe 7 or 8, or more
- 9:19 am
- Bugscope Teamhemolymph is the blood-like fluid inside the butterfly's body cavity
- TeacherAre these more setaes behind the proboscis?
Bugscope Teamthere are more setae, and there are scales that are long and narrow like setae as well
- Bugscope Teamif you are a butterfly or a moth (or mosquito or silverfish, or very few weevils and beetles), scales are good things to have if you fly or walk into a spider web. You can let the scales stick to the web and slip out, if you are lucky.
- Bugscope Teamscales also help give you the color pattern on your wings. they have both pigment colors and colors that come just from their shape, called structural colors
- 9:24 am
- Teachercool!! What's up with the mosquito eye? Are those the lenses? They look squishy!
Bugscope Teamthose are the lenses, and they are dry so theyt have shriveled a little since the mosquito was alive. if you look at the male mosquito, his ommatidia -- the lenses, -- still look nice and plump
- Bugscope Teamthis is the fine structure of one of the ommatidia. many other insects, even flying ones, do not have those tiny features
- Bugscope Teamso you can tell this is a male mosquito because it has super frilly antennae
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that the compound eyes are nice and plump, and that is actually because of the way we processed a few of the mosquitoes
- Bugscope Teamthe male has a proboscis like the female, but males do not drink blood, only the females do
- 9:29 am
- TeacherWe love this one!!!!! Erin wonders what the round hole is with stuff sticking out of it?
Bugscope Teamthat is called a 'pedicel,' and it is the base of the antenna
- Bugscope Teamthe stuff sticking out is the antenna
- Bugscope Teamwe like to nickname the pedicel as the donut or giant red blood cell
- Bugscope Teamwhen we prepare an insect this way, by critical point drying it, sometimes we see some of the debris you see now, the fine dust on the eye facets
- Bugscope Teamyeah in the morning, especially, the pedicel looks so much like a donut!
- TeacherSo what is between the antennae? And are these more setae?
Bugscope Teamyou can see setae now that let the mosquito know when its proboscis might be bumping into its eyes
- Bugscope Teamnow we are looking at a beetle's mouth, and it is very complicated
- Bugscope Teamat the top we see the mandibles, which are long and curved; one overlaps the other
- 9:35 am
- TeacherYes it is! Stephen wonders what the big black spot is?
Bugscope TeamI think that, at top left, is the entrance to the mouth. We don't often see it clearly.
- Bugscope Teamthe little limb-like things are called palps, and there are two sets of two of them
- TeacherMax wonders what the arm-like parts are?
- TeacherYou beat us to it!!!
- Bugscope Teampalps are either mandibular or maxillary, but I don't know how to tell them apart
- Bugscope Teamthey are accessory mouthparts that the beetle uses to manipulate its food, and also to taste it
- Bugscope Teamit looked to me like the beetle had more than one set of jaws
- TeacherWe have unique beetles here in MI!
- Bugscope Teamyou can tell that this is 'live' imaging, because the sample had moved a little after we made that last preset
- TeacherAre these "dots" or holes on the scales?
Bugscope Teamyes they make the scales lighter and also light refracts off them making the scales have color
- TeacherAnd what are the ridges?
Bugscope Teamprobably there as like structures to help the scales break
- 9:40 am
- Bugscope Teamthose holes are nanometers big! Like the wavelengths of light
- Bugscope Teamthese are funny-looking elongated flies we have here in the summertime
- Bugscope TeamI would not want to count the ommatidia on each compound eye.
- TeacherConner wonders what are the specks on the fly eyes? Is the sponging mouthpart really sponge-like
- Bugscope Teamthere is some dust and maybe other insect debris on it
- TeacherLexi wonders what is between the eyes?
- Bugscope Teamthis is an odd-looking mouthpart; it doesn't look like other sponging mouthparts we have seen, but it may have a 'glossa,' like a tongue, beneath those folded portions of the proboscis.
- 9:45 am
- Bugscope Teamyeah people usually wonder if they're nostrils
- TeacherSky is wondering about the holes between the eyes?
Bugscope Teamwe see those sometimes, and we are not sure what they are. we'll have to spend more time with the entomologists and see if we can get a good answer
- Bugscope Teamjust a sec and I will try to focus this better...
- Bugscope Teamthere!
- Bugscope Teamif you take the magnification down maybe we can tell
- TeacherHow big is a spider's egg?
Bugscope Teamcouple millimeters big at most
- Bugscope Teamthey are very beautiful up close\
- Bugscope Teamrolypolies are crustaceans, like crabs and lobsters
- Teacherwe wonder how you even go about finding a spider's egg?!
Bugscope Teamthey have egg sacs, which are much bigger and are easier to find
- 9:50 am
- TeacherHannah is curious about the claws? Are they sharp?
Bugscope Teamthe claws are sharp but they are tiny, so it would just tickle your skin
- TeacherMatthew wonders what the pointy things are on the legs? More setae?
- TeacherBrock wonders if they have two tips?
Bugscope TeamI think there is usually one 'normal' tip, but we see that there are also some setae sticking out that make it look like a double tip. Rolypolies are called 'isopods' because all of their little feet are the same shape.
- Bugscope Teamhere we see two sets of claws, which open and close to grasp things
- TeacherCool! We are flying through images now...Do you kick us off at 10?
Bugscope Teamwe can run a little longer if you would like
- TeacherAre these its legs?
- TeacherYAY! Luke is wondering how many of these claws this beetle has!?
Bugscope Teaminsects have claws on each of its legs
- Bugscope Teamwe have a tour at 11:45 our time, so you can run over no problem. it is about 5 'til 10 here.
- Bugscope Teaminsects always have six legs
- 9:56 am
- TeacherTHANK YOU! We have to leave at 11:15 our time...so 10 extra minutes would be perfect!
- TeacherBrady wonders if insects have necks?? (He also wonders how they eliminate waste?)
Bugscope TeamI think you could say that some insects have necks and some appear not to. The male mosquito looked like it had a neck between its head and its thorax. But a ladybug? Not so sure.
- Bugscope TeamAbout eliminating waste, insects are much like people that way. Often their waste may be more dry, because they need to conserve water.
- Bugscope Teamdragonflies look like they have necks, and spiders definitely dont look like they have necks
Bugscope Teamha That is right! Spiders have their head and body stuck together; it's called a cephalothorax.
- Bugscope Teaminsects have six legs, a head, a thorax, and an abdomen, and I believe they always have two antennae as well.
- TeacherMatthew wonders about how a compund eye works and how it helps them?
Bugscope Teamcompound eyes are especially useful for flying insects. The eyes can cover up most of the head area on them. The eyes gives them almost a 360 degree view and we think maybe all the facets help them see movement around them much faster
- Bugscope TeamTheir legs always come out of the thorax. If you start, for example, comparing an insect to a lobster -- lobsters have two sets of antennae, and of course they have gills.
- 10:01 am
- Teacheroops, i mean predators!
- TeacherLuke wonders if setaes can be used to help fend off prey?
Bugscope Teamdefinitely! There are caterpillars with long spikey hair that birds dont want to eat because they get stuck in their throats, and spiders can throw their hair at things to make them itchy
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny setae we see now, in the middle of this area, are called 'tenent setae,' and they help the insect stick to walls and ceilings.
- Bugscope Teamtenent setae are sticky
- TeacherSo both of this roly poly's antennae are missing and these are the doughnuts....?
- Bugscope Teamthe rolypoly has compound eyes, but you rarely see them. today we see them at the edges of the hood-like head
- Bugscope Teamyes
- TeacherOr donuts...?:)
Bugscope Teamwhen the antennae pop out, they are sometimes confused for eyes too
- Bugscope TeamI just drove us to the compound eye, one of them...
- Bugscope Teamthis mosquito might have just had a blood meal, but she got caught by the spider.
- Bugscope Teamsee how her abdomen is swollen?
- 10:06 am
- Bugscope Teamthose big flat arms are the spider's arms
- TeacherThis is realy cool.
- Bugscope Teamthe little arms are those of the mosquito, and you can see its head between the large arms, to the right middle of where we are now
- TeacherCarter wonders if the "hairs" on spiders are all poisonous?
Bugscope Teamnot all of the spider's hairs are poisonous, or irritating; many of the hairs, or setae, are sensory -- very good at picking up vibration.
- Bugscope Teamthis is a serious bigboy stinkbug
- Bugscope Teamstinkbugs are 'true bugs,' which have piercing/sucking mouthparts, among other distinctions
- Teacherha! why does its body look furry?
Bugscope Teamthere are some hairs on it, but there is also a lot of some oily substance on it too
- 10:11 am
- TeacherWe have to head out..!!! This was AWESOME and we look forward to doing it again!!!! Thank you SO much!
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamWe had a good time working with you and hope to see you again for sure.
- TeacherThese images and the conversation will be available on my page, r\ight?
- Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-095
- Bugscope Teamthank you for using bugscope with us this morning!
- Bugscope Teamyes they are
- Bugscope Teamyes they will
- TeacherWe're sad to sign off....thank you!!!
- TeacherBye
