Connected on 2012-07-11 10:00:00
from Harris, Texas, United States
- 9:06 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, HANC!
- Bugscope Teamif I am not mistaken, we are due to connect in an hour
- Bugscope Teamis that true?
- Bugscope TeamHello!
- Bugscope TeamCan you see this message?
- Bugscope Teamuh oh
- Bugscope TeamNaletta can you read this?
- TeacherYes, we can read it. We see the microscope I think.
- Bugscope Teamcool!
- TeacherWe are having lots of rain here so our schedule is wonky. Can you remind me of the hours we are actually scheduled with you. is it 10-12?
- Bugscope TeamThank you. I just changed the screen so it is blank
- 9:11 am
- Bugscope Teamyes 10 to 12 today
- Bugscope TeamI had the screen on CCD so we could see the inside of the vacuum chamber; now I'm getting ready to turn on the beam.
- TeacherSweet!!! We'll see you at 10!
Bugscope Teamawesome
- 9:18 am
- 9:23 am
- 9:30 am
- 9:36 am
- 9:43 am
- Bugscope TeamHey Scott. Kind of here.
- Bugscope TeamDoh
- Bugscope TeamOk better
- 9:57 am
- Teacherthe seven and eight year olds are here!
- Bugscope TeamYay!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope TeamThis is the face of a click beetle.
- Bugscope TeamIt's one of those long black beetles that has a click joint about 1/3 down its body.
- Teachercool they thought it was a fly!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its eyes, round, on each side, and below them you can see the bases of the antennae
- Teacherwe would like to know why you became entomologists.
Bugscope Teamwe are actually electron microscopists, but because we have been working with insects and other comparable arthropods for so many years now, we know a little bit about entomology
- Teacherwow!
- Bugscope Teamwe have a real entomologist named Joe, or Jose, who logs in when he has time.
- Bugscope Teamthis is a super tiny praying mantis Cate found the other day
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its compound eyes, out to the edges of its head
- Bugscope Teamand you can see clearly one of its arms, with which it grasps its prey so it can eat it
- Bugscope TeamI think of praying mantises as tyrannosauruses of the insect world
- 10:02 am
- Teacherwhy does the praying mantis have such a big claw for such a small creature
Bugscope Teamthey use those big claws with all of the spikes on them to grab and hold their prey so they can bite them
- Bugscope Teamsome praying mantises are large enough to be able to catch hummingbirds
- Bugscope Teamit actually has small 'hands,' but its forearms are spikey
- Teacherwe saw of video of that yesterday!
Bugscope Teamwow! up to date!
- Bugscope Teamthis, now, is the underside of one of those cute little daddylonglegs
- Bugscope Teamthey're not truly spiders
- Bugscope Teamwell actually they are considered arachnids
- Teacherwhy are their legs so long?
- Teacherwhat is the difference between a daddy long leg and a spider?
Bugscope Teamthere are a number of differences, in their eyes, and in them having pincers like this, and the structure of their body
- Bugscope Teamto me daddylonglegs seem more like crustaceans
- Teacherhow do they catch their food? How do they use their pincers?
- 10:07 am
- Bugscope Teamit is complicated because daddylonglegs come in different types as well
- Bugscope Teamthey eat insects and spiders, and they use their pincers but also have fangs that hold venom
- Bugscope Teamoh the cool things are the mites on the earwig!
- Teacherdo you have a favorite insect that is on the scope right now? We are trying to decide where to send the scope.
Bugscope Teamsorry I was reading about daddylonglegs for a sec...
- Bugscope TeamScot loves seeing the mites
- Bugscope Teamthis is just beneath the earwig's head
- Bugscope Teamso cool
- Bugscope Teamif you take the mag a bit lower you can see that this one has friends with it
- Teacherso tell us about the mites!
Bugscope Teamearwigs live or spend a lot of time in dirt, and they seem to acquire mites quite easily
- Bugscope Teamthe mites live on the earwigs, in places where they cannot be rubbed off.
- 10:12 am
- Teacherwhat do the mites do? Do they hurt the earwig?
Bugscope Teamwe are not sure just what they do, and whether they feed on scraps of food or they suck hemolymph from the earwig
- Bugscope TeamWe don't think they hurt the earwigs. There are mites like those found on bees that are thought to be harmful though
- Bugscope Teamhemolymph is what we call insect 'blood'\
- Bugscope Teamthese mites do not have eyes that we can see
- Bugscope Teamsometimes we find mites with little round eyes as well
- Bugscope Teamthey often hang out in places like this
- Teacherhave you ever found anything living on a mite?
Bugscope Teamwe thought we might've found a smaller mite once, but it was hard to tell for sure
- Bugscope Teammites do get mites, but we have not seen that conclusively
- Bugscope Teamthe bee!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that the honeybee's compound eyes are covered with long setae that look like hairs to us
- Teacherhow powerful is your microscope?
Bugscope TeamWe can see things as small as 2 nanometers! Light microscopes aren't nearly as powerful. We can magnify around 200,000x
- Bugscope Teamand you can see that curving part that covers the glossa, which is the 'tongue.'
- Teacheris this a European honey bee? we just learned that we have 8 different native bumble bees in Texas.
Bugscope TeamI think it is a European honeybee that lives here.
- 10:19 am
- Teacherwhat do the setae do?
Bugscope Teaminsects and comparable arthropods do not have skin, like we do, with sensitive nerve endings in it. Nor do they have bones, like we do, on the inside. Instead, they have what is called an 'exoskeleton,' which is like a shell, like a shrimp shell or like a coat of armor.
Bugscope Teamso the setae stick through the exoskeleton to the outside, and on the inside they are connected to nerves. The setae can be touch- or wind-sensory, hot/cold sensory, scent or chemical odor sensing -- all things that help the insect sense its environment
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the back legs, and it has a smooth area on it where the honeybee smears pollen so it can carry it off
- Teacherwhat are we seeing now?
Bugscope Teamso we can see the pollen basket area but no pollen
- Teachercan we see where they carry the pollen?
Bugscope Teamwe can look and see if the pollen baskets are visible
Bugscope TeamThe pollen baskets are found where we would think the knees are. The bee's knees :)
- Teacherok we are heading to the click beetle claw!
- 10:26 am
- Teacheris there something caught in the claw? It looks like a bug in the middle.
Bugscope Teamthe thing in the middle is part of the mechanism the beetle has to let it know when it has something in its grasp
- Bugscope Teamthe click beetle has these cool claws with lots of spikes on them, and it has some claws with only one spike.
- Bugscope Teamthere is a lot of juju stuck among the spikes
- Bugscope TeamHi Mrs G!
- Bugscope Teamall insects have a head, two antennae, a thorax, and an abdomen
- Bugscope Teamthey also have six legs, and we often find claws at the ends of the legs
- GuestHello there
Bugscope Teamwelcome to Bugscope!
- TeacherSo is the thing on the bottom right of our screen old stuck bug parts?
Bugscope Teamthe thing with the two bristles sticking up is part of the claw, but there is a lot of dirt and foreign matter on the claw as well
- Teacherok. we weren't sure we were looking at same thing.
- Bugscope Teamspiders often have claws with 'tines' on them like this
- Bugscope Teamsome insects' claws open and close, and some seem to be fixed in position
- 10:31 am
- Bugscope Teamto control the claws that open and close there is a tendon called an 'unguitractor' inside the tarsus, which is what the last five segments of the leg or arm are called (tarsi or tarsomeres).
- TeacherThanks for Bugscope. The nine to twelve year olds are coming in next.
Bugscope TeamCool!
- Bugscope TeamMrs G are you associated with the Arboretum or are you from the Outer World somewhere?
- Bugscope Teamof course you are welcome either way
- Bugscope TeamI just took us to another one of the click beetle's claws
- GuestI teach 4th grade in Orlando, Fl. and found you through 4Teachers Tools and logged on to check it out. Neat stuff!
Bugscope Teamawesome!
- TeacherHello there! Good morning, this is the 9-12 year old class.. My name is Riley
Bugscope TeamHi Riley!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope TeamHi Riley!
- TeacherThanks!
- 10:37 am
- Bugscope Teamyou found the little praying mantis!
- Bugscope Teamit is so small
- TeacherThat's awesome! We have a bunch of bigger ones here this week.
- Bugscope Teamyou can see from the scalebar below the image that its head is less than 2 mm across.
- TeacherIt's so cute!
Bugscope Teamhaha Yeah!
- TeacherThat's really small!
- Bugscope Teamthey cannot fly until they become adults, and once they become adults and get wings they don't molt or grow any more
- TeacherStudent: "What does this mantis eat, being as small as it is?"
Bugscope Teamthey are pretty agressive and can find smaller insects to eat, like fruit flies
- Bugscope Teamaggressive sorry about the misspelling
- TeacherHaha, that's ok
- Teacher"How did you find this mantis? Where was it collected?"
Bugscope TeamCate brought it in from her yard, I think.
- Bugscope TeamCate is on Bugscope today but also working with the atomic force microscope so she cannot pay attention to us all of the time.
- Teacher"What is the habitat of this type of mantis?"
Bugscope Teamthey live on plants but can also hang out on the outside of your house or apartment
- 10:42 am
- Bugscope TeamI saw one at a fast food restaurant one time, but it was not ordering food at the counter or the drivethrough.
- TeacherHaha, loitering mantis. Now I have heard everything
- Teacher"Do you know the genus, species of this mantis?"
Bugscope TeamNo only that it is a young one and that it can be found in central Illinois :)
- Bugscope Teamit is likely what is called a Carolina mantis...
- Bugscope TeamStagmomantis carolina
- Bugscope TeamYay Cate is on.
- Bugscope TeamYes sorry I'm in and out
- TeacherThat's ok. :)
- TeacherVery neat! Student: "What is its lifespan?" Hi, Cate! Nice talking to you again.
Bugscope Teamgenerally they live about a year. I think the ones in the Tropics can live longer.
- TeacherCool thanks!
- 10:47 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the underside (the 'ventral' side) of a daddylonglegs spider
- TeacherStudent: "Is this a harvestman, or a daddy-long-legs?"
Bugscope Teamsome people use those terms interchangeably, so I am not sure
- Bugscope Teamthis is the kind of daddylonglegs that has a single rounded body, not an extended body
- Teacher" So what is the lifespan of these guys?"
Bugscope Teamit is said to be a year, average, as well
- Bugscope Teamthere are different kind of daddylonglegs/harvestmen. The British call craneflies, which look like giant mosquitoes, daddylonglegs...
- Bugscope Teamdifferent 'kinds' or species...
- 10:52 am
- Teacher"To tell the diff between male and female?"
- Bugscope Teamoops
- TeacherThe kids really want me to correct my spelling of harvestman, so... there ya go. :)
- TeacherOk, cool!
- Teacher"Do you know how to sex the havestman?"
Bugscope TeamI don't lnow. In spiders the females are often larger.
- Bugscope Teamin other spiders, you can sometimes tell males from females because the palps are big and furry on males and small and more delicate on females.
- Bugscope Teamthe palps are also called pedipalps, and they are like accessory mouthparts in insects as well as in spiders.
- Bugscope Teamthis is a honeybee
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its left compound eye, on the right
- Bugscope Teamthe eye is covered with setae --- with fine 'hairs'
- Bugscope Teamwe find setae in most insects and comparable arthropods, and they help them sense their environment in various ways
- Teacher"They want to know the lifespan of these guys, too. " :)
Bugscope Teamthese are more like 6 weeks or so
- Bugscope Teambees can get worn out from working so hard, and their wings will get frayed
- Bugscope Teambees are related to wasps and to ants
- 10:57 am
- Bugscope Teambees and wasps and ants that have wings have four wings
- Bugscope Teamants that have wings are either the queen or the males, which fly\
- Teacher"Does this bee have a stinger?"
Bugscope Teamwe can go look!
- Bugscope Teamnow we're closer...
- TeacherOK, now you're just showing off. :)
- TeacherVerdict?
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the super sharp part in the upper middle of the image we see now
- TeacherThe kiddos say there's no stinger. That's the popular vote.
- TeacherSo is it under a flap of skin, usually?
Bugscope Teamit is at the tip of the abdomen, and it is made of hardened thick chitin, which is what the exoskeleton is made of, but thicker
- TeacherWow, the more you know!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that it has little serrations in it to help cut into your skin
- 11:03 am
- Bugscope Teamwhen a honeybee stings another insect it does not die, but when it stings a mammal, its stinger gets stuck in our thick skin and pulled out of the honeybee's body
- Bugscope Teamthe stinger has a little outboard motor on it that pumps venom into your skin
- Bugscope Teamwhen the stinger and the venom gland (the outboard motor) are pulled out of the honeybee's body, it bleeds to death where the stinger was.
- Bugscope Teamthis, now, is totally cool
- Bugscope Teamit's a mite!
- TeacherI agree!
- Bugscope Teamit lives on the exoskeleton of an earwig
- Bugscope Teamthere are often lots of them on earwigs, like a small colony
- Bugscope Teamthese mites do not have eyes, and it is hard even to see their heads
- TeacherO, haha!
- TeacherWe should have waited
- TeacherStudent: " Which side of the mite has the eyes?"
Bugscope Teamit would be on the carapace, on the top; that is where we see eyes when we find the kind of mites that have eyes
- Bugscope Teamyou can take us to another one so we get a different view if you would like
- Bugscope Teamyou are driving a $600,000 scanning electron microscope
- Teacher"There is a little thing on top of the mite-it looks like a mite on the mite! What is that?"
Bugscope TeamI am afraid it is some kind of dirt.
- 11:08 am
- TeacherLet's see a different mite!
Bugscope TeamI did the driving this time...
- TeacherThanks!
- Bugscope Teamstill, it is hard to see the mite's head
- Bugscope Teambut we are looking at the earwig's head -- that is what the mite is sheltering under
- Bugscope Teamlet's try one of its friends...
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head, so small
- Teacher"Is it possible for mites to get mites?"
Bugscope Teamyes it is, but unfortunately we have never seen them -- not yet
- TeacherIs it because they are too small?
Bugscope TeamI am not sure. We always look, but they may live on the underside of the larger ones, and we don't see them upside down that often.
- 11:14 am
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see how small they are!
- Bugscope Teamthe earwig is not that large itself
- TeacherLast question: "Do these mites suck the blood and/or hurt the insect?"
Bugscope Teamwe are not sure, I'm sorry -- it is hard to find these things out. I am saving my money for an expensive mite book, about $140, that I hope will have all of the answers!
- Teacherthanks* Have a great summer!
- Bugscope Teamit is possible that with those large suckers on their limbs they are collecting hemolymph from their host or hostess
- TeacherAlright, thatnks so much! It was great talking with you. We enjoyed it very much.
Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
- TeacherTake care!
- Bugscope Teamplease apply soon for another session even if it is a year away
- Bugscope TeamBye!
- Bugscope TeamBye!
- Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2012-001
- Bugscope Teamthat is your member page...
- Bugscope TeamMrs G are you still here?
- 11:20 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are shutting down
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- 11:33 am
- TeacherHI guys, this is the 5-6 yr old group.
- TeacherWhat do we have to look at today?
- Teacheris anyone there?