Connected on 2013-01-15 08:00:00
from Herkimer, New York, United States
- 7:15 am
- Bugscope Teamcoating the sample now...
- 7:24 am
- Bugscope Teampumping down
- 7:31 am
- Bugscope Teamnow aligning, then we'll start making presets for today's session
- 7:36 am
- 7:42 am
- 7:47 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Mrs G!
- StudentHi there
- Bugscope TeamI gave you control but if you can hold off for a few minutes I will make a few more presets
- StudentThanks, how does the specimen look? Did it dry well?
Bugscope Teamit looks good. it is one of the presets you can see on the lefthand screen
- Bugscope Teamthis is its head, and to the right you see some of the stones it had assembled to protect it
- StudentNice view point
- Bugscope Teamif it's alright with you I will make a few more presets before we get started. are the students there?
- 7:52 am
- Studentsounds good, students will be coming in a few minutes
Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- 7:57 am
- 8:02 am
- Bugscope TeamI think we have enough presets to get started
- Bugscope TeamI will be right back...
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll.
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Everyone!
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions!
- StudentThank you, we are all set
- Bugscope TeamMrs G you may drive anytime you wish
- Bugscope Teamwe put the caddisfly larva on the stub but of course added a few other insects; you never know how a particular specimen will look at high mag
- Bugscope Teambut the caddisfly larva looks pretty cool
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know if you would like us to give any of the students control of the microscope
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of the caddisfly larva
- 8:08 am
- Bugscope Teambecause they live in the water -- they are indicators of water quality, and will not live where the water quality is not good -- they are covered with water creatures, including diatoms
- Bugscope Teamyou have the ability to change the magnification, change focus, contrast/brightness, and also move around on the stub using click to center
- Studentwhat is the dried plant?
Bugscope TeamCate made the sample last night, and I don't know where she got it.
- Studentwhere are the eyes on this caddisfly larva
Bugscope TeamI believe we can see one very small eye now, center left and a tiny bit north
- Studentwhat are the fuctions on the tiny hairs
Bugscope Teamthere are multiple functions of the hairs, which we call setae: they are mechanosensory, chemosensory, and thermosensory, among other things
- Studentwhat does the caddisfly feed on
Bugscope Teamit is a predator and eats other creatures in the water
- Studenthey ScotT where is its mouth?
Bugscope Teamit is to the upper right
- Studentwhat do they use their claw for?
Bugscope Teamthey use their claws the same way we use our hands, in many ways; but they have six claws/'hands'
- Bugscope Teamthis is the mouth
- StudentHow long does the caddisfly usually live for
Bugscope TeamI think just a few weeks; we'll have to confirm that...
- 8:14 am
- Studentwhat is a diaton?
Bugscope Teamdiatoms are single-celled silica-shelled creatures that swim in the water; they come in all shapes
- Studentwhat are the bumps on its back
Bugscope Teamit is lying on its back now, and the bumps we see are stones it has assembled to protect it
- Studenthow big do these usually get to be
Bugscope TeamI believe they can get to be nearly 2 inches long
- Bugscope Teamsee the stones?
- Bugscope Teamthis is pretty cool
- Bugscope Teamif you take the magnification up you can see the surfaces of the stones, and there you will find diatoms
- Studentwhen they are getting the stones do they have a hard time moving them
- Bugscope TeamMrs G is it alright if I give the students control?
- Studentwhere do they live
Bugscope Teamthey live in clear streams, in fresh water
- Studentthat's fine
- Studenthow long do they use one case for?
Bugscope Teamit is kind of like a pre-cocoon for them, so it is long enough for them to eat and grow, get ready to become caddisflies
- Studenthow do they breathe
Bugscope Teamwhen they are larvae, like this, they have something like gills that help them collect oxygen from the water
- Bugscope TeamStephen and Casey I gave you control.
- 8:19 am
- Bugscope Teamthere are 12,000 species of caddisflies, so of course they are not all exactly the same
- Studentlucky them
Bugscope Teamhaha
- Bugscope Teamthis is a small female spider
- Studentare those teeth
Bugscope Teamthey are fangs, as close to teeth as arthropods get; they are likely considered to be mandibles (jaws)
- Bugscope Teamit is cool that we can see the venom pore on the fang we see best here
- Studentkind
- Bugscope Teamthe thick things the fangs are attached to are the chelicers, or chelicerae, which open so the fangs can be spread apart and the spider can bite
- Studentwhat kind of spiter is this
- Studentwhat is the hair on it for
Bugscope Teamthe hair, like that on insects, is sensory; in a spider much of it is vibration sensory
- Studentwhat find of spider is it
Bugscope TeamI am not sure; it is some kind of house spider
- Studenthow much more venom does a male spider have than a female?
Bugscope Teamprobably less, generally, since male spiders are often smaller
- Studentcan we have control of the million dollar microscope please? :)
Bugscope Teamyes!
- Bugscope TeamNill you are the Supreme Ruler
- 8:25 am
- Bugscope Teamlet me know if you have any trouble driving
- Bugscope Teamwhen I am sitting at the microscope itself, I am SEM (scanning electron microscope)
- Studentis a daddy long leg a spider?
Bugscope TeamI believe it is in a larger family of spiders, but it is really quite different
- Studenthow long does it take to learn all this info about these insects?
Bugscope Teamwe have been doing this for almost 14 years, and we are always going to be learning. we ask the entomologists lots of questions.
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that the cricket has two compound eyes, on either side of its head; what is cool is that this one also has an eye in the middle of its head, between the antennae
- Studentdose it have teeth?
Bugscope Teamit has mandibles, which may have hardened tips, kind of like teeth. no insect or similar arthropod has what are considered true teeth
- Studentthe things around the mouth are they used like arms
Bugscope Teamthey are palps, and yes they are -- they accessory mouthparts, almost like eating utensils that also help the insect taste its food
- 8:31 am
- Studentwhat is the structure of the spider
Bugscope Teamspiders have a cephalothorax -- a 'head-trunk' or 'head-chest' as one piece, with the eight legs attached to it as well as the abdomen
- Studentwhat are those pipe like structures on the back of the head?
Bugscope Teamthose are the antennae
- Studentwhen a cricket is born is it able to move or is it in a larva form?
Bugscope TeamI believe they are born as tiny crickets, but I am not sure
- Studenthow many antennae do they have
- Bugscope Teamall insects have two antennae; that is one reason we know lobsters are not insects -- they have two sets of antennae
- Studentwe are in the process of making a sketch
Bugscope Teamyou will have access to these images later, from your member page. so if you would like, ask the students to try all of the presets, at least, so you have a record of them\
- Studentwhat are the function of the antennae?
Bugscope Teamthey help the insect sense the world through chemosensing, and touch; in some ways and in some insects they are more important than eyes\
- StudentDoes the third eye help provide a more complete view of its surroundings?
Bugscope Teamit is likely there are two more eyes like that that we cannot see; they are called ocelli, and they sense light -- they do not work as well as compound eyes; they are good for helping an insect locate itsef in the environment in relation to the sun, for example; flying insects often have ocelli on the tops of their heads
- 8:36 am
- Bugscope Teamdoes someone else want to drive?
- Bugscope Teamants use their antennae to collect minute traces of chemicals, or you could say smells
- Studentus
Bugscope Teamgot it!
- Bugscope Teamants lay down and follow chemical trails, and they follow the stronger trails more than the weaker trails, generally, in search of food
- Bugscope Teamthis is really cool
- Bugscope Teamthe venom pore is clogged with something, perhaps crystallized venom
- Bugscope Teamspiders feed by injecting venom into their prey that dissolve the inner organs of the prey; they then suck all of that up like a milkshake
- Bugscope Teamyou can see lots of what are called plumose setae near the fang
- Bugscope Teamspiders have those pine tree like setae quite often
- 8:42 am
- Bugscope Teamsome spiders, like tarantulas, also have what are called urticating hairs. urticaria is itching. when a dog, for example, comes up and sniffs a tarantula, it releases some of those hairs, which get into the dog's nostrils and discourages it from bothering the spider
- Studentis it true when an ant is in danger it sets off a pheramone so the other ants know it is need of help?
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- StudentWhy do they have that particular structure?
Bugscope Teamwe think the plumose setae are more sensitive to vibration
- Bugscope Teamif you rubbed the smell of dead ants on a live ant, the ants that normally do the cleanup will carry the live ant away, even if it is clearly alive and struggling, because of the scent of death on it
- StudentIs the pore it self tords the tip
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- Studentcan we have control
Bugscope Teamyou are the bosses now!
- Bugscope Teamthere is a pore like that on each fang, but we cannot see it on the other fang right now
- Bugscope Teamthe other fang is to the left and below
- Bugscope Teamthis is a housefly, and it is a female
- Bugscope Teamin many flies, the eyes of the males are close together, and the eyes of the females are far apart. like Mikhail Baryshnikov and Uma Thurman.
- Studenthow many eyes?
Bugscope Teamthere are a few thousand ommatidia (facets of the compound eye) in each compound eye; there are also three ocelli (simple eyes) on top of the head
- 8:47 am
- Bugscope Teamsome large wasps have as many as 17,000 ommatidia per compound eye
- Bugscope Teamin the middle of where we are looking now, we see one of the spiracles
- Studenthow long can they live for?
Bugscope TeamI think the average is about 6 weeks; often insects can live longer in captivity
- Studenthow do you tell if these insects are male or female?
Bugscope Teamin this case we can tell by the eyes; sometimes there are other body features that help us; often we cannot tell from the outside, however
- StudentWe are going to wrap up
Bugscope Teamohhh.
- Bugscope TeamThank you for connecting with us today!
- Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2012-110
- Bugscope Teambelow is your member page, where there is a transcript of this chat session and also many of the images you have collected
- Bugscope TeamI will move to the other presets to save them for your member page.
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- 8:52 am
- StudentThank you so much for all the info
Bugscope TeamYou bet!
- Bugscope Teamwe enjoyed working with you!
- Bugscope Teamif you would like to take more time to explore, please do. let me know when you have questions!
- 9:00 am
- Bugscope Teamcaddisflies live for a year, usually, and in the adult form, as flies, they usually live for a few weeks but may live for 2 months
- StudentAre the pictures from the session today download able?
Bugscope Teamfrom the transcript, from the member page, you can click on an image and download it.
- Bugscope Teamfrom this member page -- your page: https://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2012-110
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2012-110
- StudentThank you!
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Bugscope Teamalright I am shutting down now...
- Bugscope TeamBye!
