Connected on 2011-10-12 13:00:00
from Kane, Illinois, United States
- 11:58 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is in 'scope and pumped down...
- 12:05 pm
- 12:10 pm
- 12:15 pm
- Bugscope Teamand we are making presets for today's session
- 12:21 pm
- 12:27 pm
- 12:33 pm
- 12:38 pm
- Bugscope TeamHi Mr York!
- 12:43 pm
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the surface of a wasp wing
- Bugscope Teamplease feel free to drive, and let us know if you have any questions
- Bugscope Teamon the lefthand screen you can see the preset positions we have saved for today's session
- Bugscope Teamyou can click on a preset to have the 'scope drive to that place on the sample stub
- Bugscope Teamwasp claw
- Bugscope Teamthis is a tarsomere
- Bugscope Teamif you take the magnification down, to low mag, you can use click to center to drive around the sample stub
- Bugscope Teamin small increments
- Bugscope Teamthese are interesting mechanosensory setae on the forearm of the praying mantis
- 12:49 pm
- TeacherWe will be ready for you at 1:00 sharp
- Bugscope Teamcool
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-077
- Bugscope Teamall of your images and the chat text will be stored on your member page, which is copied below
- 1:01 pm
- Teacherwe are going to start with the praying mantis because it is the one we are most interested in!
- Bugscope Teamhey cool
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its head now, and its large compound eyes
- Bugscope Teamits antennae broke off sometime after it died
- Bugscope Teamat the front of the head, facing us, is the mouth, and the extra appendages we see are palps, which help the praying mantis taste its food as well as manipulating it into its mouth
- Bugscope Teamwe do not see the tips of the mandibles, which are under that central flap
- 1:06 pm
- Teacherhow long are their anteenae and what are they used for?
Bugscope Teamthe antennae may be a few millimeters long, depending on the size of the praying mantis. antennae have lots of chemosensory setae on them that help the mantis smell the air
- Bugscope Teammany insects get chemical information about their environments from the air
- Bugscope Teamants get much of the information they use to make decisions through their antennae
- TeacherHow many lenses are on the compound eye?
Bugscope Teamperhaps 5000 per eye; in some flying insects like large wasps there may be as many as 17,000 individual facets, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teammany flying insects also have three simple eyes, called ocelli, on the top of the head
- Bugscope Teamnow we are looking at one of the compound eyes of an ant, which has much fewer ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthe images from the ommatidia form a larger mosaic-like image that allows the insect to see large parts of the area around it
- TeacherWhat are the hairs and dust particles between the lenses used for?
Bugscope Teamthe hairs are often mechanosensory, like cat or rat whiskers -- they are sensitive to touch, and wind
- 1:12 pm
- Bugscope Teamsome of the hairs, which entomologists call 'setae,' pronounced see-tee, are thermosensory, and many are chemosensory.
- TeacherDoes that many lenses help to see objects coming at them better than humans?
Bugscope Teamyes it does! that is because with so many lenses the insect gets instant updates about what might be approaching it
- Bugscope Teamand also, because the compound eye may wrap around the head, the insect can see in many directions without turning its head
- Bugscope Teamhaving a combination of compound eyes and setae that can sense wind allows a fly to easily avoid being smacked
- TeacherIs the net-like structure under the hairs part of the exoskeleton?
Bugscope Teamyes it is -- those little plates are how the exoskeleton formed, and they make it tougher
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the six sets of claws the Japanese beetle uses to grasp things
- 1:17 pm
- Bugscope Teamsometimes claws open and close in a different manner; these seem to fold and unfold in one plane
- Bugscope Teaminsects have six legs, a head, a thorax, and an abdomen
- Bugscope Teamoften they have claws at the ends of the lefs
- Bugscope Teamoops 'legs'
- TeacherAre they trigger hairs like on the venus flytrap?
Bugscope Teamthey may use those hairs in a similar fashion, more controlled perhaps, to let them know when to close their claws
- Bugscope Teamthat is a good point -- many of the setae, or hairs, we see on an insect are for proprioception -- for self sensing
- Bugscope Teammoths, butterflies, mosquitoes, silverfish, and very few other insects have scales
- 1:22 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe scales on the silverfish's exoskeleton give it that silver color
- TeacherThis appears to be very hairy. Are the hairs used for something special?
Bugscope Teamit is often crawling in the dark, and the hairs help it sense when it is touching something; they might keep it from getting into a place it cannot get out of
- Bugscope Teamalso, however, the scales, which are actually modified setae themselves, fall of easily. we know that when we rub the wing of a butterfly -- they are the tiny powdery stuff that comes off.
- Bugscope Teamif you have loose scales all over your body and you flew or walked into a spiderweb, you might be able to slip away -- the scales would be stuck to the web but you would get out
- TeacherWe think we see the two antennae. Is there a proboscis coming out the other side?
Bugscope Teamthe two antennae are to the NE and SW
- Bugscope TeamI believe the silverfish does not have a proboscis, but rather jaws, which we cannot easily see here
- TeacherAre we able to see the spiracles?
Bugscope Teamif we looked in the right places, usually on the sides of the body, sides of the abdomen, we could see spiracles
- Bugscope Teammaybe if we look at the wasp we will be able to find spiracles
- 1:27 pm
- Bugscope Teamspiders have these beautiful setae that have projections on all sides, like a pine tree
- Bugscope Teamsome spiders also have hairs that they let loose if a dog, for example, comes too close and sniffs them
- Bugscope Teamthe hairs that spiders let loose are irritating and serve to keep the dog from getting too close
- TeacherWhat is the spiney thing on the left?
Bugscope Teamthat is one of the plumose setae that spiders have many of; they help the spider sense vibration
- Bugscope Teamif you take the mag down a little bit you should see more of them
- Bugscope Teamthe other kinds of hairs -- the ones that you want to avoid -- are called 'urticating hairs'
- Bugscope Team'urticating' means that they make you itch
- Bugscope Teamalmost all ants you see are females. male ants have wings, and there are not many of them
- Bugscope Teamthe one female ant that may have wings is the queen, but she will lose those wings when she starts to lay eggs
- 1:33 pm
- TeacherDoes the ant have a nose?
Bugscope Teamno it does not; it uses its antennae to pick up scents, and it is very good at that
- Bugscope Teamants communicate with each other using smells, and they sense those smells with the antennae
- TeacherIs the jagged line part of the mandible?
Bugscope Teamthe mandibles are obscured by the leg, in the middle there; they have hinges and open like a gate
- TeacherIs the antennae like a ball and socket?
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- Bugscope Teamthe base of the antenna is a ball and socket joint like where your femur joins to your pelvis
- TeacherWhat is the band on the right side?
Bugscope Teamthere was a portion of the thorax showing. otherwise I am not sure
- Bugscope Teama bee's tongue often looks much like this as well
- Bugscope Teamthat is a good shape that allows the wasp to collect nectar -- sugary fluid from flowers
- 1:39 pm
- TeacherWhat is the use of the tongue? Does it shed?
Bugscope Teamit works like a mop to help collect fluids; I don't believe it is ever shed
- Bugscope Teamlook how big the eye is! and that is just on one side
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the mandibles, above where we saw the glossa, or tongue
- Bugscope Teamthe long setae (hairs) see likely have multiple purposes; one is to help maintain a stable body temperature
- 1:44 pm
- TeacherWhat are the segmented sections on the right side?
Bugscope Teamthose are two sets of palps, like extra limbs, that help the wasp taste its food
- Bugscope Teamabove them is the sheath that holds the glossa (the tongue), and above that are the jaws, or mandibles
- Bugscope TeamI am sorry this tiny moth is kind of beat up
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its compound eyes and lots of scales
- Bugscope Teamto the far right, top, you can see one of the antennae, which is broken
- Bugscope Teamthis is a salt crystal from a Wendy's restaurant
- Bugscope Teamwe don't know why they have that cool incised pattern; we think maybe it is because they have an anticaking agent added to the sodium chloride
- Teachercan this be broken down even smaller?
Bugscope Teamsalt always forms cubic crystals, so yes if it was broken down smaller we would still see cubes
- Bugscope Teambut this is the size of a normal salt crystal
- 1:50 pm
- TeacherHow does it stay together instead of breaking apart?
Bugscope Teammaybe it has just enough moisture to make it stick together
- Bugscope Teamactually what makes it form the large crystal is what makes it form the smaller crystals we also see -- the bonds between the sodium and the chloride
- TeacherSJ. Thanks for your time and great answers. We learned something new from you today!!! Have a great day!
Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!