Connected on 2014-09-15 09:00:00
from Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States
- 7:57 am
- Bugscope Teamsample for today's session is pumping down
- 8:08 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Hui!
- Bugscope Teamin a few minutes we'
- Bugscope Teamll be doing setup for today's session, which starts at 9 our time, on about 53 minutes.
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the sample in a CCD view, inside the specimen chamber
- Bugscope Teamsoon I will turn on the electron beam, make some adjustments, and start collecting presets for this morning's session
- 8:16 am
- 8:22 am
- 8:27 am
- 8:33 am
- 8:39 am
- 8:44 am
- 8:51 am
- Bugscope Teamdon't need help
- 8:58 am
- Bugscope Teamhi vanessa!
- 9:04 am
- GuestI am joining so my 4th grade class can experience this event. We have one scheduled for Oct 24. I'm not really sure how this works. works ddule
- Bugscope TeamVanessa if today's school has forgotten us, you may be the Supreme Rulers today. I'
- Bugscope Teamll call them.
- Bugscope TeamVanessa for the moment I have given you control of the microscope. You should now be able to click on any of the presets, on the lefthand screen, and the 'scope will drive to that position on the stub.
- Bugscope Teamthe most ethical way you can kill the insects is to stick them in the freezer. this will make them fall asleep and they will die without knowing it
- Bugscope Teamit is all typed -- otherwise we cannot be sure who would speak, and from where, nor whether anyone could hear us.
- 9:09 am
- Bugscope Teampeople often collect insects they find dead. fresh dead is much better than dumping them out of a lampshade, however.
- GuestCan we actually talk to you? Or is it all typed? My students are facing the ethical dilemma of killing the insects to send to you. Might we discuss that and how this interfaces with science? w the t ma of
Bugscope TeamIn terms of affecting the number of insects in the wild, for most species of insects their reproduction rate is so high that you killing a few of them for this viewing will in no way impact their population at all. So if you were worrying about that it isn't
Bugscope Teama problem
- Bugscope Teamas Cate says, we often freeze insects we find in the house.'
- Bugscope Teamyou can set it up so that each student, or pairs of students, are at a computer, for example if you have access to computer lab.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a cranefly -- one of those flies that looks like a giant mosquito.
- GuestIf I click on a preset on the left, do we ask questions about the species?
Bugscope Teamif you click on the preset, the 'scope will drive to that place; it will then be on the central screen. usually people are more interested in knowing what parts they are looking at, not so much what species it is. we may not know the genus and species.
Bugscope TeamIn most cases, identifying an insect to species requires an expert in that group of insects; there are just so many species, its too much for one person to know
- Bugscope Teamyou can see salt granules around its head.
- Bugscope Teamthe giant cranefly is Tipula abdominalis
- 9:14 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the Tipula species...
- GuestA student wants to know where its eyes are
Bugscope TeamThe large light gray circle is one of its compound eyes. If you zoom in on it you should be able to see that it is composed of many facets called Ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that the compound eye, of which there are two, has maybe 300 ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamsome flying insects also have what are called simple eyes, or ocelli, on the top of their head, and usually there are three
- GuestWhat is the benefit to faceted eyes?
Bugscope Teamone advantage is that the individual ommatidia -- the facets -- update very quickly, which is important in the insect world, in which movement occurs very quickly
- Bugscope Teamalso, compound eyes allow the insect to see more of what is around them at one time.
- GuestI am losing some of your text and can't seem to scroll down to read it. Do you know what I'm doing wrong? g
Bugscope Teamit likely has to do with the setting of your screen resolution
Bugscope Teamthat of the screen I am using now is 2560 x 1600
- 9:19 am
- GuestI'll look into that for next time.
- GuestWe recognize the faceted eyes. Can you explain a little more about what we're looking at?
Bugscope Teamthis is the head of an ant, and we can see its antennae; there is a difference in ant antennae compared to wasp antennae in that first joint.
Bugscope TeamYou can also see its mandibles -- its jaws -- at the bottom of the image.
Bugscope Teamsticking out of its jaws are feelers, called palps, that it uses to taste its prospective food
- 9:26 am
- Bugscope Teamthe faceted eyes are very small -- they have few ommatidia, few facets
Bugscope Teamit's a clue, telling us that the eyes may not be as important in this species.
Bugscope TeamSince most ant species are subterranean, they often do not use their vision much and instead rely on chemical senses to navigate their environment and communicate
- GuestStudents want to know of the cranefly is also called the bandit fly or the mosquito hawk.
Bugscope Teamcranefly is the same as the mosquito hawk. I am not sure with the bandit fly
Bugscope TeamI've never heard bandit fly before, but if I had to guess I would say it probably refers to robber flies, predatory flies in the family asilidae
- GuestThank you. We need to go, but I am going to try to resolve my screen issue before our session in October
Bugscope TeamNo problem :) happy to help
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool. Thank you, Vanessa! We look forward to seeing you in October!
- 9:31 am
- Bugscope TeamHui please let us know if you would like to try driving. Our school may not connect today>
- Bugscope TeamHui I have given you control.
- GuestWhat is the difference?
Bugscope TeamAnt antennae are geniculate - meaning that they have a single movable joint or "elbow". In wasp antennae, the antennae are straight and do not have elbows
Bugscope Teamants have a long segment called a scape, which we see now, that is not jointed.
Bugscope TeamCorrect me if I am wrong, but I believe wasps antennae also have scapes, but they are much smaller and thus do not allow for geniculate antennae
Bugscope TeamI found something on the web that says that wasps generally do not have elbowed antennae, except for thread-waisted wasps; the other main difference is the petioles -- the little bead-like body segments
Bugscope TeamI believe that in antennae, only the scape and pedicel have muscle attachment and are capable of movement. the last segments, the flagellomeres, are actually pseudosegments and do not have muscle attachments that allow for individual movements of each segment. Hence in order for geniculate antennae to evolve, the scape would have to elongate. But I checked and wasps do also have scapes, they are just relatively shorter, very similar in length to the other segments
Bugscope TeamThank you, Josh!
Bugscope TeamNo problem. This is a great refresher activity for me :)
- 9:36 am
- Bugscope TeamHui I think we're going to close down. We plan to be back on Tuesday morning.
- Bugscope Teamwednesday right?
- Bugscope TeamDuh sorry yes Wednesday morning, a bit early.
- Bugscope TeamAlright, shame they didn't show up but at least Vanessa got something out of it. Later dudes
- Bugscope TeamI'm going to shut down. I'll wipe out everyone who is still logged in.
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Josh!
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Daniel!
