Connected on 2013-06-11 08:00:00
from Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka, India
- 7:08 am
- Bugscope Teamstarting setup for today's session
- 7:16 am
- Bugscope Teamhey good morning, Jen and Legoguy!
- GuestMorning! We are excited to be looking in the first time.
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- Bugscope TeamI'm setting up for the session that is scheduled for 8 our time; it's 7:15 a.m. here
- Bugscope TeamI just put the sample in the vacuum chamber.
- Bugscope Teamwe'll be waiting for the vacuum to reach the right level, and then we'll turn on the electron beam
- Bugscope Teamafter that, make some adjustments and start finding and storing presets
- Bugscope Teamso presently what you see is the inside of the vacuum chamber, and right in front is the stub with the insects/arthropods on it
- Guestawesome!
- 7:21 am
- 7:29 am
- 7:35 am
- Bugscope Teamnow we're driving around, making presets
- GuestNew here! This is awesome...I wish my kids were awake!
Bugscope Teamsuper cool!
- GuestIs this the underside we are looking at? What type of borer?
- Bugscope Teamwe moved on from the borer, which seemed to be a cerambycid beetle, like the emerald ash borer; this is now a sad-looking roachlike beetle
- Bugscope Teamoh yeah we are almost always looking at the ventral side, the underside, where the legs are and where we're most likely to see the 'face'
- 7:42 am
- Bugscope Teamlooking for pollen and seeing mostly mold spores
- GuestIs that a mold spore?
- Bugscope Teamthis one is a pollen grain
- Bugscope Teamsometimes it is hard to tell
- 7:47 am
- 7:53 am
- 8:00 am
- Bugscope Teamwelcome, everyone, to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamthe person we're scheduled to work with is not on yet
- Bugscope Teamcan we give someone control of the 'scope until she arrives?
- Bugscope Teamplease, also, let us know when you have questions
- 8:06 am
- Bugscope TeamLegoguy I gave you the ability to control the microscope
- Guestwhat is that thing that looks like a braid? Is it a tentacle?
Bugscope Teamthe small ones are antennae, and the larger ones, in front, are the tarsi -- the last five segments of the limb
- Bugscope Teamthese are the tarsi, or tarsomeres
- Bugscope TeamLegoguy are you still here?
- GuestThis is a really neat 'service'! I have a fairly large dragonfly specimen that my husband found. I will have to have the kids round up some more insects and send them to you!
Bugscope TeamHSMom I just gave you control.
- Bugscope Teamthe best specimens for Bugscope are often quite small. like leafhoppers, tiny weevils and beetles, mosquitoes...
- Bugscope Teamyou can click on any of the presets, on the lefthand screen, to get the 'scope to drive to that position on the stage
- GuestOh, ok! I will send them in search of little insects...those are more fun to find anyhow...
- GuestHow can we look at the photos on the left?
Bugscope Teamclick on the blue arrow
- 8:11 am
- Bugscope Teamtotally cool
- GuestI have to hop off and take a phone call....please give control to someone else..
Bugscope TeamThank You for joining us!
- Bugscope Teampalps are accessory mouthparts that help the insect manipulate and taste its food
- Bugscope Teamthis is a cute little moth
- Bugscope Teammoths are always covered in scales
- Bugscope Teamscales come off easily, and thus when an insect with scales flies into a spiderweb, there's a chance it can leave its scales and slip away
- Bugscope Teamscales are modified setae, which is what the tiny 'hairs' are called
- Bugscope Teamscale on the right, microsetae in the center, fluted setae above, to the left
- 8:16 am
- Bugscope Teammicrosetae, or microtrichae, do not connect to the nerves inside the exoskeleton
- Bugscope Teamscales that do not have latticework and pores in them are said to be primitive
- Bugscope Teamthis is kind of horrific
- Bugscope Teamlol
- Bugscope Teamit's a housefly head, but the mouthparts are gone
- GuestDo you have a mosquito? Interested in seeing the needle that bites you.
Bugscope Teamno mosquitoes in the 'scope today. the fascicle is the component that has four sharp cutting stylets in it, part of a bundle; we do not see them often
- GuestPoor fly!
Bugscope Teamhaha Yeah
- Bugscope Teamthis is on the ventral side of the true bug, which now we can see also seems to be a stinkbug
- Bugscope Teamthese are absorbent structures that help keep the stinkbug from smelling its own bad smell
- Guestlol
- 8:21 am
- Bugscope Teamwhen we use the microscope for research, we have the sample much closer to the polepiece, where the electrons come from, and we get much better resolution. the tradeoff is that if we stay at a long working distance, like today, we can go to low mag and you can see more of a particular specimen
- Guestthank you, we have to step out for a minute
Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Bugscope TeamDodd Family we just gave you control, if you are still there.
- Guestyes
- GuestI thought stink bugs only stink when they are defending themselves
Bugscope TeamI think you are right - when they feel endangered.
- Bugscope Teampollens!
Bugscope Teamhaha!
- Bugscope Teamgrasshopper!
- Bugscope Teamthe George Washington of grasshoppers
- Guestdoes a grasshopper have teeth or just strong jaws?
Bugscope Teamthey have jaws that open out like a gate
- 8:27 am
- Guestdo they have compound eyes also?
Bugscope Teamyes and they are huge, especially compared to an ant!
- Bugscope Teaminsect mandibles can wear out, and some, or many, insects that use their jaws for chewing often have zinc or other minerals in them to strengthen them
- GuestWhat do you guys do to prepare the bugs before putting them under the microscope?
Bugscope Teamin most cases they are just dry. when we collect them we freeze them and then let them dry. to attach them to the stub we use doublestick carbon tape, and we usually also lay them in a droplet of silver paint. then we use a sputter coater to put about 20 nm of gold-palladium on the whole stub
- GuestThanks!
- Bugscope Teamwhen we get insects in ethanol, we have the opportunity to critical point dry them, which preserves the soft parts that would normally shrivel when they dry.
- 8:33 am
- Bugscope Teamthe fascicle is black, if you see it 'in person,' and it has a siphon tube that both delivers saliva and collects the blood. there are also, as I had mentioned earlier, for cutting mouthparts
- Bugscope Teamwhen we critical point dry female mosquitoes, the fascicle is sometimes released from the sheath of the proboscis it is normally inside
- Bugscope Teamclearly the fascicle is so named because it is bundled together like sheaves of wheat once were; the same root word as fascists
- Bugscope TeamCurious you are the supreme ruler now...
- Bugscope Teamit is also a stinkbug, although it does not have that shield shape
- 8:38 am
- Bugscope Teamhere we see that one of the antennae has a scale from another insect stuck to it
- Bugscope TeamCurious please let us know if you try to call up a particular preset and it does not show up.
- GuestSo their antennae point downward?
Bugscope Teamlikely just because it is dead; they can move their antennae pretty much however they wish when they alive
- Bugscope Teamthis is a ladybug. if we get too close we'll see that its mouthparts are covered with juju
- Bugscope TeamCate also put a larval ladybug on the stub for us.
- 8:43 am
- GuestDoes the ladybug have eyes?
Bugscope Teamyes, but they are a little harder to see. they are right next to thee edge of their back shell
- Bugscope TeamI'm at the microscope, the SEM, and just drove us over to one of the ladybug eyes
- GuestIs there a way to look at the top of the ladybug?
Bugscope Teamhaha No! Sorry...
- Bugscope Teamwe have to choose which side we're going to mount up when we make the sample
- Bugscope Teamthe individual facets of the compound eye are called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamdragonflies may hold the record for the most ommatidia per eye; they are said to have as many as 32,000 per eye
- GuestSo this is one of the eyes?
Bugscope Teamyes this is one of the ladybug's compound eyes; I'll back the mag down for you in a sec so you can see...
- GuestWow thanks! We have to get going, but this was super fascinating and we will definitely be back!
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- 8:49 am
- Bugscope Teamtenent setae!
- Bugscope TeamIf anyone else would like to drive please let us know.
- Bugscope Teamwe will likely close down soon if no one else is interested
- Bugscope Teamwe are quite happy to have had guests today!
- GuestThank you - a wonderful resource. We will be back another time also!
Bugscope TeamSuper Cool!
- Guestreally enjoyed it!!!
Bugscope TeamThank You, LK!
- GuestI just joined, this is very interesting... We will check it out agin for sure. Thank you.
Bugscope TeamIf you would like to drive please let us know.
- Bugscope Teamwe can stay on for a bit longer
- Bugscope Teamthis is a cranefly
- 8:55 am
- GuestIs that the proboscis on the left of the screen or is it called something else on a cranefly?
- Bugscope Teamum but we do need to know if we have an audience. Otherwise it is kind of boring, and Cate will laugh at me.
- GuestI am here ... Can we mail bugs from Canada?
Bugscope Teamyes you can! if you collect live bugs into ethanol, like vodka, there's pretty much no chance they'
- Bugscope Teamre going to survive and cause in international incident
- Guest Sorry don't have any vodka
- Bugscope Teamwell some kind of alcohol stronger than beer, or methanol would work -- rubbing alcohol
- GuestIs that the proboscis on the left of the screen or is it called something else on a cranefly?
Bugscope Teamyes that is the proboscis; they kind of resemble horses
- GuestThanks
Bugscope TeamYou can send insects dry, in portion containers so they don't get smooshed. The postal carriers have rules but sometimes are not aware of them, and it is easy for them to say No
- 9:00 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the compound eye of the cranefly
- Bugscope Teamthe ommatidia do not look so good up close
- GuestWe will check with our post office.
- Bugscope Teamugh I'm sorry -- they have some kind of juju on them as well
- GuestHaha
- GuestNow we know where they get ideas for horror movies! :>D
Bugscope Teamhaha
- Bugscope Teamno perfect ommatidia yet today
- GuestWhat is that?
Bugscope Teamit's a mold spore; looks like a Greek amphora at the bottom of the sea
- 9:06 am
- GuestThose look like fish fins...or corn husks...what are they?
Bugscope Teamthey're scales
- GuestThanks for sharing ... Going for breakfast now... We will come back another day.
- Bugscope Teammosquitoes, butterflies, moths, silverfish, and few other insects have scales
- GuestIs that the antenna?
Bugscope TeamI think it's a palp -- one of the mouthparts
- Bugscope Teamyes it was a palp. this is too
- Bugscope Teamplease, if anyone else has questions, feel free to chime in
- Bugscope Teamwe're going to shut down soon, for today
- GuestWhat does the palp do?
- 9:11 am
- Bugscope Teampalps are accessory mouthparts that help manipulate food toward the mouth, although not with most moths; they also have chemosensory components that help the insect taste its prospective meal
- Bugscope Teamthis is a ladybug larva
- GuestWhat were we just looking at?
Bugscope Teamwhen we were up close we were trying to make sense of an aphid's body that is stuck to the larva
- Bugscope Teamaphids are soft-bodied, like dustmites, so when they dry up after they dry they shrivel horribly
- Bugscope Teamsame with a spider abdomen
- GuestThanks!
- Bugscope Teamthe cephalothorax of a spider is hardened
- Bugscope Teamalright everyone we're shutting down
- Bugscope Teamwe appreciate you being on
- GuestSo if we wanted to send a spider...would it be best to send it in ethanol solution?
Bugscope Teamyes, then we could critical point dry it
- GuestThanks
Bugscope TeamThank You!
- GuestThank you! We will be back!! Off to look up 'how to critical dry' ;>)
Bugscope Teamhaha Totally cool.
- 9:17 am
- Bugscope TeamGood Bye, Everyone!
