Connected on 2011-04-07 09:45:00
from Cook, Illinois, United States
- 8:54 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is being coated...
- 9:04 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is now in 'scope, being pumped down
- Bugscope Team1.7...
- Bugscope Team1.5
- 9:09 am
- Bugscope Team1.4
- Bugscope Teamalmost there
- Bugscope Team1.3
- Bugscope Teamgood morning Ms Mak!
- TeacherGood morning!
- TeacherThank you for everything!
- TeacherI just wanted to make sure that everything was set up before I teach a lesson for a different grade level.
- TeacherWe will be back at 9:45! They are very excited!
- Bugscope TeamCool!
- Bugscope Teamwe'll be working on the presets and should be ready at 9:45
- 9:15 am
- 9:20 am
- 9:27 am
- 9:32 am
- 9:39 am
- 9:47 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- TeacherGreat! My 3rd graders are filtering in now.
- TeacherThere will be 3rd graders for an hour, then we will switch to 2nd grade.
- Bugscope Teamsounds great!
- TeacherWhat do we have in front of us?
- Bugscope Teamthis is an ant, with a second ant next to it
- Bugscope Teamits on its back, as usual
- Bugscope Teamalmost all ants you see are female
- Bugscope Teamif you see an ant with wings it is a male, but the female ants do almost all of the work
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Linda!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the top of the thorax, and the head is above that
- TeacherAre those little hairs called sensilla?
Bugscope Teamwe call them setae (see-tee)
- Bugscope Teamsingular of setae is seta
- 9:52 am
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the mandibles
- Teacherwhat is the purpose of them?
Bugscope Teamthey allow the ant, or whatever insect they are attached to, to sense (sense of touch, taste/smell, temperature, wind speed) what is going on around it in its environment.
- Bugscope Teammandible is another word for jaw
- Bugscope Teamthe mandibles on insects open like a gate, whereas those on people open up and down
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae are used to sense the pheromones that the other ants put out. Some ants will lay a trail for the other ants to follow, for instance
- TeacherMy students want to know if the antenna is used for smell?
Bugscope Teamthe antenna are covered with chemosensory setae, so they are indeed used for smell
- Bugscope Teamthe information ants get from the pheromones (like perfume, or scents in the air or on some substance) override the information an ant gets from seeing things
- TeacherWhat are the layers on the abdomen?
Bugscope Teammany people who study ants call the abdomen a 'gaster,' and it has little flexible panels on it so it can expand and shrink and also bend
- 9:57 am
- Bugscope Teambe sure and select from the other presets on the left screen when you are ready to look at something else
- Bugscope Teamthe spider you sent us looks very nice as well
- Bugscope Teamsome ants have stingers, and some spray formic acid from the tip of the abdomen to discourage pests
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of one of the centipede's feet
- Bugscope Teamit's like a single claw
- TeacherWhat do they use the toes for?
Bugscope Teamby toe, scot meant claw, and the claws are used for grabbing onto things or to help them walk along things
- TeacherI'm hearing lots of "ewwwww"s right now. :)
- Bugscope Teamcentipedes have two feet per segment, one on each side
- Bugscope Teammillipedes have four feet per body segment, two on each side
- 10:02 am
- Bugscope Teamhere is a big eeeewwww from me
- Bugscope Teamcentipedes bite their prey and inject venom into it, then eat it
- Bugscope Teamthis is the mouth
- Bugscope Teamstoneflies spend part of the time in the water
- Bugscope Teamand they are a good indicator of water quality in a stream
- TeacherIsabel wants to know why it looks like they have several mandibles
Bugscope Teamsome of what you see are palps, which are used to taste/move around the food it eats. It might have maybe 2 pairs of mandibles though
- 10:07 am
- TeacherMaciej wants to know what insect is carrying the pollen?
Bugscope Teamthis part of the stonefly's body is also where its gills are, and that area has lots of infoldings that spikey things like pollen can stick to
- Bugscope Teamnot all pollen is spikey, however, and today there is also stargazer lily pollen on the sample stub that is not at all spikey
- Bugscope Teamstonefly larva may live for 2 or 3 years and undergo as many as 25 molts before they become adults
- Bugscope Teamthis is pretty cool, here
- Bugscope Teamwe think this is a female spider because the pedipalps are small; those of a male spider are usually larger
- 10:12 am
- TeacherThat's okay!
- TeacherIsabel wants to know why it looks like they have hair in their mandibles?
Bugscope Teamspiders usually do not see very well, but they are almost all quite sensitive to vibration, which means that they can sense when something is near or even touching them
- TeacherClay wants to know what kind of spider this is.
Bugscope Teamwe aren't very good at identifying spiders, sorry.
Bugscope Teamit looks similar to a woodlouse spider- spiders that prey on woodlice (rolypolys)
- Bugscope Teamsome of the hairs are vibration-sensing, and sometimes spiders also have hairs that they release to irritate the nasal tissues, for example, of a dog that might be bothering them
- TeacherJanine wants to know if spiders have a head, thorax, and abdomen?
Bugscope Teamno, their head is attached to their thorax, which in total is called a cephalothorax, but they do have an abdomen
- TeacherClay wants to know if these things help them digest their food?
Bugscope Teamspiders inject venom into their prey that dissolves the inner organs of the prey, which they then suck up like a milkshake -- so they have a liquid diet
- TeacherMatt wants to know about how many "hairs" are there?
Bugscope Teamhere we see hundreds, but I'm sure in total there are waaaay more than that- too many to count
- Bugscope Teamthe cephalothorax is often hard, whereas the abdomen is soft and thus expandable
- TeacherMaciej wants to know what that hole is.
- 10:17 am
- TeacherKamila wants to know how many insects there are in the world?
Bugscope Teamthere are trillions of insects and probably a few million species
- Bugscope Teamthis is the one of the pores with which the spider injects poison
- TeacherEverybody wants to know what that oval shape is to the right.
Bugscope Teamthat looks like a scrape to the right
- Bugscope Teamthe fang has scars on it
- Bugscope Teamthe thing on the right that was stuck to the hair was probably some kind of debris; we are not sure
- Bugscope Teamit might fight with other spiders or insects that are trying to eat it
- TeacherJosh wants to know how it gets scars? Do the insects fight?
Bugscope Teamha Cate beat me to it!
- TeacherWhat is "that thing"?
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny stuff we see there is likely mold
- Teacher:) - the thing in the middle of the screen
- Bugscope Teammold, or fungus, has long stringy portions called 'hyphae,' and that may be fungal hyphae, which will eventually cover the spider after it dies and make it rot
- 10:22 am
- TeacherClay wants to know if the antenna are split into 2 parts?
Bugscope Teamthe antennae do have an "elbow" in them so that they can move them around to what direction they want them to go
- TeacherJosh wants to know if wasps have compound eyes.
Bugscope Teamyes they do! and they also have simple eyes called 'ocelli' on the top of the head
- Bugscope Teamthe individual facets of the compound eye are called 'ommatidia,' and each functions like a lens
- Bugscope Teamit is cool how the compound eye shapes itself around the head
- TeacherClay wants to know how many facets would be on a compound eye?
- TeacherThey have 2 sets of eyes?
Bugscope Teamyes they have 2 compound eyes, which allow them to see almost 360 degrees around them, and they also have a set of eyes we can't see right now at the back of the head, which are called ocelli. Ocelli are a set of 3 simple eyes that triangulate with the sun so it won't fly upside down
- TeacherWould we be able to see the simple eye?
Bugscope Teamwe might, to the right a bit
- Bugscope Teamwell I was thinking that was a single ocellus, but I think it is debris and the ocelli are further back, on the top of the head
- Bugscope Teamthey do look like little white domes
- 10:28 am
- TeacherMatt wants to know what the pointy things are on the top right.
Bugscope Teamthose are some of the legs to the right
- TeacherWhat is the circular part in the center?
- TeacherIsabel wants to know why it looks like something is coming out of their eyes?
Bugscope Teamthose aren't the eyes. Those are the antennae. One of the compound eyes is just above the antenna that you see. It's the bumpy part
- TeacherClay wants to know how many legs a millipede has
Bugscope Teamthey can get large in the Tropics and have perhaps 750 legs, but here only a hundred, maybe
- TeacherClay wants to know how long a millipede is?
Bugscope Teamthe length depends on how big they are. There are some the size of small snakes! This one is about 10mm long maybe?
- TeacherKamila wants to know how many types of millipeds there are.
Bugscope Teamthere are said to be 10,000 species of millipede
- 10:33 am
- TeacherIsabel wants to know how long a millipede lives.
Bugscope Teamthey live around 5-7 years
- TeacherKamila wants to know how fast they can walk.
Bugscope Teammany of this type of millipede walk very slowly and depend on their ability to curl up to protect themselves from predators
- TeacherMaciej wants to know if millipedes are venomous.
Bugscope Teamthere are venomous millipedes, but they are of the tropical variety
- TeacherMatt wants to know what a beetle eats.
Bugscope Teamthat depends on the beetle. They can pretty much eat anything
- TeacherClay wants to know what the different plates are
Bugscope Teamthose are different portions of the exoskeleton, which is an armored shell that most insects have
- TeacherKamila wants to know what type of beetle it is.
Bugscope Teamthis is a click beetle. Their defense is to make a clicking sound
- Bugscope Teaminsects and many similar arthropods have exoskeletons and no bones on the inside like we do -- they have a shell like a shrimp, for example
- TeacherCan humans hear the clicking sound?
Bugscope Teamyes and you can feel it -- I leaned on one in a chair one time, and it clicked violently to get me to let it up
- Teacher:)
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that the eyes on this one are in the very front
- 10:38 am
- Bugscope Teamsometimes the head -- on the side that we cannot see -- will have large eyespots on it to scare or startle potential predators
- TeacherKamila wants to know if it's just a male or female thing? Or do all click?
Bugscope TeamI believe they all click. Clicking, if they are not pinned under you, can also make them flip their bodies in the air to escape a predator
- TeacherJosh wants to know why there are "holes" in the antenna.
Bugscope Teamthose are pores for the setae (insect hairs). Each pore should have a seta sticking through
- TeacherClay wants to know why there looks like there is a ledge.
Bugscope Teamit has a kind of battering ram head, doesn't it? that may be how these insects compete for mates
- TeacherThird graders want to give a big thank you!
Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope Teamthanks for using bugscope with us this morning 3rd graders!
- TeacherThey are headed out right now, my 2nd graders will be filtering in in a few minutes.
Bugscope Teamcool!
- 10:50 am
- Teacher2nd Grade is ready!
- TeacherNicholas wants to know if the poison is deadly.
Bugscope Teammost spiders' poison is not deadly to people, and this spider is probably not dangerous
- TeacherRachel wants to know what those hairs are.
Bugscope Teamthose are called setae (pronounced see-tee), and they allow the arthropod to feel what is going on around it in its environment. They dont have sensitive skin like us so they rely on their hairs
- Bugscope Teamthe venom of recluse spiders, however, can cause a large sore where it eats away at your skin and tissue
- Bugscope Teamspiders often rely more than anything else on their ability to sense vibration using those setae
- TeacherJosh wants to know if this spider is rare.
Bugscope Teamto us it is a rare spider that looks very good in the microscope, but actually we don't often know what kind of spider we have, as today
- 10:55 am
- Bugscope Teamit certainly has large fangs
- GuestIf you don't mind one of my students has a question. They would like to know what the long thing on teh left side of the screen is.
Bugscope Teamthose are its legs
Bugscope Teamyes now you can see a little better
- Bugscope Teamall of the legs are attached to the cephalothorax -- the combined head and trunk
- GuestDaulton would like to know what holds the legs on
Bugscope Teamprobably a bone and socket joint like we have. Some spiders can even jettison their legs out if it will help them get away from their enemies
- Bugscope Teamthe tip of the abdomen is where the spinnerettes are
- Bugscope Teamspiders can produce different kinds of web, some of which are not sticky
- Bugscope Teamif a spider gets stuck in its own web it is said to be able to eat its way out
- TeacherLaine wants to know what the 4 circles are.
Bugscope Teamthose are the spinnerettes -- the nozzles that produce the web
- TeacherWhy wouldn't some webs be sticky?
Bugscope Teamit's nice to have nonsticky web to walk on when you go after the prey
- 11:01 am
- TeacherNathan wants to know what the big circle is.
Bugscope TeamI'm not sure what we are looking at exactly
- GuestI have several students who would like to know what we are looking at now.
Bugscope Teamthis is the spider's abdomen, including the spinnerettes, at the top; it is a little shriveled. the abdomen is soft and flexible whereas the cephalothorax is thicker and hardened
- TeacherBack to the "jettison their legs out"--could you explain that some more?
Bugscope Teamspiders have the ability to 'autotomize' their legs, for example if they sense venom entering them or they are caught and could escape just by letting the leg fall off. it is a good thing they have so many legs
- TeacherRachel wants to know how spiders jump? Do they joints to bend their legs?
Bugscope Teamyes they have multiple joints in their legs that they can bend to help them jump. They also have muscles in their legs
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of one of the many tiny legs of the centipede; you can see a body segment below it
- TeacherLucy wants to know what that texture is on its toe?
Bugscope Teamwhat I called a 'toe' is really a claw, and it is hardened -- it is think kind of like a fingernail
- 11:06 am
- TeacherJosh wants to know if centipede poison can be lethal to humans.
Bugscope TeamI think in rare cases it can be toxic, but mostly from the larger Tropical centipedes
Bugscope TeamThe effect on humans however varies greatly. Very small species of centipedes are unable to penetrate human skin and inject any venom, so could be considered harmless. Some species can deliver a dose of venom, the result being about the same as the result of a bee sting. Some larger species can deliver still more venom. The good news is that centipede stings in general are not harmful to humans as far as the amount of venom involved is concerned, but the sting from a large centipede can be extremely painful in some instances, painful enough to send someone to a hospital for treatment, but such a sting is rarely life threatening.
- GuestDaulton wants to know what the long things on top are.
Bugscope Teamthose are the antennae
- TeacherLaine wants to know if the claws are sharp.
Bugscope Teamthey are sharp to us, but they are small and we wouldn't very likely feel them
- TeacherJack wants to know how many legs there are.
Bugscope Teamon average, centipedes have 30-100 legs
- TeacherAndy wants to know why centipedes don't have the little hairs on the tips of its legs.
Bugscope Teamit may be that in the environment in which the centipede lives it would not benefit from having sensory feedback from the tips of its legs
- TeacherSamantha wants to know if these are the mandibles?
Bugscope Teamyes they are!
- GuestSeveral students want to know what the little things are?
Bugscope Teamyou mean the tiny feautures on the surface of the exoskeleton?
- TeacherWhat do centipedes eat?
Bugscope Teamoften they eat insects and other arthropods, and large ones can eat things like mice; they usually kill their prey with venom and then chew it up, from what I have read
- Guestthere were small things laying around the centipede the students wondered if they were seeds
Bugscope TeamOh yeah -- those are pollen grains from the stargazer lily.
- 11:12 am
- Bugscope Teamhere is the wasp's compound eye; it has probably 5000 individual ommatida on each side
- Guestthank you
Bugscope TeamThank You!
- TeacherAndy wants to know how many lens there are in the compound eye.
Bugscope Teamthis one has thousands. Too many to count!
- TeacherSusie wants to know what's the most common shape for the lens?
Bugscope Teamthe most common shape are hexagons. They allow for the best curvature of the eye. When there aren't too many ommatidia, like with the ant, they tend to be round
- TeacherPatrick wants to know if the compound eye lets them see all the way around them.
Bugscope Teamyes the wasp has very good peripheral vision
- TeacherDo wasps have venom when they sting people? - Rachel
Bugscope Teamyes they do. And they can sting multiple times, but they are small amounts of venom each time. A bee will use all its venom in one sting because that is often all they have
- TeacherLaine wants to know what the holes are to the right of the compound eye.
Bugscope Teami've never really known what those holes are for. Maybe scot can help with that
- GuestDaulton would like to know what the holes beside the eyes are
Bugscope Teamwe see those often, but we are not sure what their purpose is; it may be to help equalize the pressure inside and outside of the head
- 11:17 am
- TeacherSamantha wants to know if those folded in parts are the mandibles?
Bugscope Teamyes they are! they open from side to side like a gate
- TeacherSusie wants to know why there are hairs on the folded parts?
Bugscope Teammany of the tiny hairs we see are sensory -- they sense touch, or they help smell. or they sense hot/cold
- TeacherNicholas wants to know what's in their mouths?
Bugscope Teamthey have something that is like a tongue and they also have palps, which are used to taste or move around food
- TeacherJosh wants to know what wasps eat.
Bugscope Teamthey often eat garbage. That is why you often see them around picnic tables
- TeacherLaine wants to know where the stinger is.
Bugscope Teamthat is found at the tip of the abdomen, but I don't think it's visible today
- TeacherNathan wants to know what the antenna is for.
Bugscope Teamantennae are very important to insects and arthropods -- they often have most of the smell receptors on them and thus let the insect follow trails of various smells -- of food, or of other insects, or potential mates
- Bugscope Teammany insects respond almost automatically to particular scents; ants depend on scent trails to tell them where to go and not to go
- TeacherPatrick wants to know if all pollen looks like this.
Bugscope Teamno, this is very rare. There is a preset of a different kind of pollen on here. Most pollen look like spheres with spikes on them
- 11:22 am
- TeacherSusie wants to know why the pollen looks like its coated in flour?
Bugscope Teamit may have tiny bits of debris on it; this is a stonefly larva that spends a lot of time in the water
- TeacherAndy wants to know why pollen might have spikes?
Bugscope Teamthat helps them get transported in hair like these setae, or in fur or on clothing
- GuestMy class would like to know what the hook things are?
Bugscope Teamthose are claws
- Bugscope Teamall insects have six legs, and many have a set of claws on each leg
- TeacherLaine wants to know how you identify the bug.
Bugscope Teamafter awhile you start to recognize features that species have in common with other species in the same family. and we see specific ;) things like halteres or hamuli that let us know if an insect might be a fly or a wasp, for example. we are not as good at this as the entomologists, but we are always learning
- 11:28 am
- GuestQuandair would like to know what the bumpy thing in the middle toward the top is?
Bugscope TeamI am sorry -- it has moved and I am not sure
- Guestthat is ok
- TeacherWhat is that?
Bugscope TeamI think these are cerci -- they stick out past the abdomen and let the insect know when something is touching it
- TeacherLaine wants to know why they are puffy.
Bugscope Teambeing puffy helps them collect more light and also likely help focus the image they collect
- TeacherRachel wants to know what the compound eyes are made out of.
Bugscope Teamthey are made out of the same stuff the rest of the exoskeleton is made of- chitin
- TeacherLucy wants to know why there are bubbles on the eye.
Bugscope Teamwe don't know where this fly has been, but it flew through something that gummed up its eyes
- 11:33 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the mouth, with sponging mouthparts, and you could see the antennae above
- GuestMy class would like to know what this is
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the antennae now
- Bugscope Teamthis is a female housefly
- TeacherNathan wants to know what those rocky things are.
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae have a thick pad portion and also an 'aristate' -- branchlike -- portion
- Bugscope Teamnow we see both portions of one antenna
- TeacherJack wants to know what color the compound eyes are.
Bugscope TeamI think these appeared to be black before we coated them with gold-palladium to make them conductive
- TeacherNathan wants to know what the claw does.
Bugscope Teamthey grab onto things. They are like our hands. They may also help steady them on certain surfaces
- TeacherAndy wants to know what's in between the claw parts.
Bugscope Teamthat looks like what is called an 'arolium,' and it helps the ant keep a grip on a small crevice
- 11:38 am
- Bugscope TeamI am not sure about ants having an arolium, which we see in insects like grasshoppers. in grasshoppers the arolium can be inflated to help it hold onto a crevice, and deflated to let it go
- TeacherSusie wants to know why the legs are scrunched up.
Bugscope Teamwhen they die, they dry out. When that happens the tendons get tight and cause the legs to fold in
- Bugscope Teamthis is the abdomen, which people who study ants will often call a 'gaster.'
- Bugscope Teamoops not just now
- Bugscope Teamthis is carbon tape that Cate uses to stick the insects down to the stub
- Bugscope Teamshe also uses silver paint. you can see the bubbles in the tape
- Bugscope Teamthe spider is to the left and the wasp head is to the right
- TeacherSusie wants to know what those black dots are
Bugscope Teamthe black dots are bubbles in the surface of the carbon doublestick tape Cate uses when she prepares the samples
- Bugscope Teamthe spider has very large fangs
- TeacherThank you very much! It's time for us to leave.
- Bugscope TeamThank You! This is fun for us.
- TeacherThanks for everything!!! You all have been wonderful!
- Bugscope Teamthank you for using bugscope with us today
- 11:43 am
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-014
- GuestThank you for letting us sit in! Maybe we can visit again soon!
Bugscope Teamthank you -- you are very good guests!
- Bugscope Teamthe url I put below is the member page for your session -- you can visit it anytime to see the transcript and images from this session
- Bugscope Teambugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-014
- Bugscope Teamanother way of putting it...
- Bugscope TeamThank You!!
- Bugscope TeamWe are shutting down soon.
- Bugscope TeamGood Bye!
- TeacherThanks!
- Bugscope TeamThank You Again!