Connected on 2010-11-22 08:30:00
from Matthews, NC, US
- 7:30 am
- Bugscope Teamsetting up
- 7:39 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down
- 7:50 am
- 7:56 am
- 8:02 am
- 8:08 am
- Bugscope Teamback in a minute...
- 8:13 am
- Bugscope Teamok back
- 8:18 am
- Bugscope Teamhey good morning!
- Bugscope TeamI haven't finished the presets yet'
- Bugscope Teamif you can give me a few more minutes I'll have them all done
- TeacherGood morning! I have a class full of excited students!!!!!
- TeacherWill do!
- 8:24 am
- Bugscope Teamcool we can roll from here
- Bugscope Teamgo ahead and take control, and let me know when you have questions
- Bugscope Teamha Welcome to Bugscope!
- 8:29 am
- Bugscope Teamnote that you can change mag, change focus, drive by clicking on a particular feature and the 'scope will center on that feature
- Teacherwhat is an ommatidia?? Love, Holly :)
Bugscope Teamommatidia are the individual facets of the compound eye
- Bugscope Teamthis is a broken scale
- Bugscope Teammoths, butterflies, mosquitos, silverfish and very few weevils and beetles have scales
- Bugscope Teamscales give color to the wings, and they also come off very easily; when you touch a butterfly's wing and the powdery stuff comes off, this is it
- TeacherTHATS SUPER COOL
- Bugscope Teamscales give those insects an advantage if they fly into a spider's web. they can leave the scales behind and slip out. sometimes...
- 8:34 am
- Bugscope Teamso here we see more ommatidia. those of moths are complex compared to those of an ant, for example
- Bugscope Teamsome ants don't even have eyes. but moths can see in the UV, which we cannot, and presumably the structure we see now helps them do that
- Bugscope Teamthe hexagonal shape is a good way to achieve close-packing of circular objects and also form a dome shape. like the houses Buckminster Fuller designed -- the geodesic domes
- Bugscope Teamlet me know if you have any trouble driving, and of course let me know when you have questions about anything
- Teacherwhat are the small dents on the ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthey're torn places, wear from bumping into things, and handling
- Bugscope Teamyou can see a single small seta (a hair) to the left. presumably it helps the moth gauge windspeed and direction, like similar features on fruit fly eyes
- Bugscope Teamthis is a nice-looking ant
- 8:39 am
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae are in the position we might want to have our eyes in. ants use their antennae much more than they use their eyes
- Bugscope Teamyou can see one of the eyes on the left side of the head there
- Bugscope Teamand of course you can see the jaws, which open like little gates, from the side
- TeacherWhat here would be significant in daytime versus night travel?
- Bugscope Teameven in the daytime, during which they could be undeground, the ant functions mostly by interpreting chemical signals
- TeacherWhich part receives the chemical signals?
- Bugscope Teamso it uses its antennae for that. chemicals in the air = pheromones
- Teacherooooh that makes sense
- Bugscope Teamif we look at the antenna, up close, we may find setae whose function is to sense pheromones
- TeacherThat's really cool! How do I focus on just the antenna?
- Bugscope Teaminsects and similar arthropods have an exoskeleton, like a shell, and the tiny hairs (setae) we see are often sensory
- Bugscope Teamyou can use click to center (click on the screen) to move the antenna to mid screen
- Bugscope Teamand then you can focus
- 8:44 am
- Bugscope TeamI'd take the mag down first\
- Bugscope Teamit takes a little practice -- it's much easier here, at the microscope itself
- TeacherThank you
- Bugscope Teamsome of those setae are chemosensory, some are mechanosensory, and some are thermosensory
- Bugscope Teambeing an insect is like wearing a suit of armor, for us -- we'd have to bore holes in the armor and have feelers (setae) sticking through in order to better sense our environment
- Teacherwhat it is scott O_o
- Bugscope Teamyou can see ants to the SE and to the NW
- Teacherthis is a new group
- Bugscope Team--.--
- Teacherx_x
- Bugscope Teamheh
- Bugscope Teamhere you can see the jaws, and the antennae, and you can almost see the compound eye on the left
- Teacherwhat part of the ant's legs helps it climb
- 8:50 am
- Bugscope Teamprobably most of what allows it to climb is at or near the claw, at the end of the limb
- Bugscope TeamI had taken us up to where we could see the compound eye, and the ball and socket joint of one of the legs
- Bugscope Teamyou can make out two claws in that jumble of limbs
- Bugscope Teama couple of the tarsi have broken off, and one looks like it was chewed off by something
- Teacherdo the hairs have any adhesives on it?
Bugscope Teamyes that might be more clear if you look at the fly claw
- Bugscope Teammany climbing insects have little pads on their tarsi (the 'forearm' segments) called pulvilli that have, in turn, tenent setae on them
- 8:55 am
- Bugscope Teamso here on the fly's claw you can see two pads with tiny setae, pointing downward here, that help the fly cling to glass, for example, or the ceiling
- Teacherso are there 2 claws at the end?
Bugscope Teammost insects seem to have two claws at the end of the tarsi
- Teachernow for another group
- Bugscope Teamthey can open and close the tarsi sort of the same way you might use one of those grasping extensions to reach something on a high shelf
- Bugscope Teamthere is a tendon inside the tarsus called an 'unguitractor' that makes the claw open and close
- Bugscope Teamnow we are looking at the legs and thorax of the housefly
- Bugscope Teamthis is probably a female housefly. in flies the males' eyes are often close together, like Mikhail Baryshnikov; and the females' eyes are fair apart, like Uma Thurman.
- Bugscope Teamsort of...
- Bugscope Teamthe sponging mouthparts are in the center there, and they are a little dried out
- Teachergreetings we would like to look at moths please i love you
- Bugscope Teamthe things at the top of the head that are glowing a bit, with electrons, are the antennae
- 9:00 am
- Bugscope Teamha yeah Thanks!
- Teacherbecause the label had said it was a moth head?
- Bugscope Teamwhoever is at the controls can adjust the contrast/brightness, click to see the presets on the left, and choose from among them to get the 'scope to drive to that position
- Teacherword, so was the other thing a house fly head? orr..?
Bugscope Teamyes the other thing was the head of a housefly
- Teacheroh alrightty then!
- Bugscope Teamthe cool optical patterns we see -- the moire patterns -- are from the tiny fine features of the eye
- Bugscope Teamha a stinkbug!
- Teacherha indeed!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its domelike eyes, and one of its legs is in the foreground
- Teacherim not sure man our group did moth wings but we cant find them, it was nice talking with i appreciate you helping out our class
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny pores we see on the thorax are, I believe, intended to help absorb the scent of the stink
- Bugscope Teamawww. are you done?
- Bugscope Teamthis little dude is unlikely to be able to climb well
- 9:05 am
- Teachersoooo, what kind of bug is a weevil?
- Teacherthis is a new group
- Bugscope Teamweevils are sometimes called 'snout beetles'
- Teacherwhat kind of food do they eat?
- Bugscope Teamso they are beetles, and a particular kind, but there are lots of them
- Bugscope Teammany of them eat grain -- they are agricultural pests
- Bugscope Teamand think of the boll weevil, which feeds on cotton bolls
- Bugscope Teamyou can find them in bags of flour sometimes
- Teachercan we see any parts of the mouth in this picture
Bugscope Teamif you use the microscope controls to drive north, the head is there
- Bugscope TeamI can cruise up there..
- Bugscope Teamthis is an uncommon weevil -- it doesn't have the super-long snout they often have
- Teacherwhat is the round cylinder thing
- Bugscope Teamyou can see one of the eyes, and most of the cylindrical things are palps, or antennae
- Teacherthanks so much scot! :)
- 9:10 am
- Bugscope Teampalps are accessory mouthparts, like little feeding utensils attached to the head
- Bugscope Teamthe palps help insects manipulate and also taste their food
- TeacherHey this is a new group!
Bugscope Teamyay! Hello!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the chemosensory tip of a palp -- a feeding mouthpart on this weevil
- Bugscope Teamso this is kind of like tastebuds
- Bugscope Teambe sure to take a look at the presets, to the left, and click on one you might want the microscope to drive to
- Bugscope Teamyou are controlling a $600,000 microscope from your classroom
- Teacherhow does it function?
Bugscope Teampheromones or simple scents in the air are 'tasted' by those chemosensory pores
- Bugscope Teamsorry not a very good explanation
- Teacherhow do the pores function in an aquatic environment?
Bugscope Teamif the insect was aquatic, or at an aquatic stage, its body would be a little different -- adapted for that environment
- 9:15 am
- Bugscope TeamI'm sure it could sense chemicals in the water
- Bugscope Teamthis is kind of cool, here.
- Bugscope Teamthe little pores we see have small flower-like components in them that are thought to help keep the stinkbug from having to be exposed to its own smell, which it does not like
- Bugscope Teamso it may be absorbing that smell, keeping it away from its head
- Teacheroops - saw the cricked!
- Teachernew group - our insect was a cricket ... don't see one in the preset. what would be most simliar?
Bugscope TeamI just clicked on the cricket preset
- Bugscope Teamhere is its head
- Bugscope Teamit is very small
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that one of the antennae is busted off -- or to be an optimist, you can see that one remains
- Bugscope Teamthe thing to the left of center is the clypeus -- a kind of plate that covers the top of the mouth
- Teacherdo mouth parts correspond with body size?
Bugscope Teamyes if it was larger the mouthparts would be as well
- Bugscope Teammost of what we see here are palps -- two pairs of palps
- 9:21 am
- Teacherid like to focus in on the mouth
Bugscope Teamin the very center are the tips of the mandibles
- Bugscope Teamthe mandibles open and close from the sides, like gates
- Bugscope Teamthe angled thing is one of the palps, which help insects manipulate their food as well as taste it
- Bugscope TeamI think the little moustache helps it sort of filter its food as well
- Bugscope Teamwe see something like that on many insects
- TeacherThank you so much! We learned a great deal and had a lot of fun! We appreciate your time. Our class is now ending here. We look forward to reviewing the images later.
- Bugscope Teamthe lower portion of where we are now is where the mandible tips join
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
- Bugscope TeamI am going to move around the 'scope so that the places you did not get to go to are added to your database.
- 9:26 am
- TeacherI look forward to it - I have other classes next semester and hope to repeat the experiment (hopefully the next time around we will be more savvy!) Did you guys get the bugs I sent or were these insects you already had (for planning purposes).
- Bugscope Teamthese are the ones you sent
- Bugscope Teamif you have access to a computer lab, you can set it up so that students can log in individually
- TeacherGreat! Next time I will make sure I better label the insects, too. Perhaps the next time I will provide more structure for the students' experimental questions - they seemed a little unfocused today! Thanks for all your help - you were great!
- Bugscope Teamnext time we will have more help on my end as well.
- Bugscope TeamThank You.
- TeacherWe do have a lab - I will go that route next time!
- 9:31 am
- Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-099
- Bugscope Teamokay I am shutting down
- Bugscope TeamThank You again for connecting with us today!
