Connected on 2014-10-08 10:00:00
from Jefferson County, Alabama, United States
- 9:50 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll
- Bugscope Teamhi Buggy!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions for us
- GuestWe are so excited.
- Bugscope TeamYay! Are you with the Altamont School?
- Bugscope Teamthis is a fruit fly
- GuestNo. We are in Louisiana
Bugscope TeamAwesome!
- Bugscope Teamsee the compound eyes?
- Bugscope Teamthey're a little dried, slightly collapsed
- 9:55 am
- Bugscope Teamtoward the middle of the head, and up, we see the antennae, like little pads
- Bugscope Teamand the mouthparts are on the lower portion of the face
- Bugscope TeamBuggy we just set it up so you can drive, until the school logs in.
- Bugscope Teamif you click on the screen, the 'scope will center where you clicked
- Bugscope Teamand if you click on one of the presets, on the lefthand screen, the 'scope will drive to that place on the stub
- Bugscope Teamlet us know if you have any problems driving and for sure let us know as well if you have questions, about anything.
- 10:01 am
- Bugscope TeamHello Bea's Bunch!
- Bugscope TeamPlease feel free to ask us questions, about anything.
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the forelimbs, and a wing on the left
- Bugscope Teamawesome!
- Bugscope Teamwe can see the two segments of the claw, and the frilly part in between that helps the fly stick to surfaces
- Bugscope Teamhoneybee face
- GuestWill you show us the stinger?
- Bugscope Teamthe two long things are halves of the labrum, which protects the tongue
- Guestlooks like teeth?
Bugscope Teamthose are hardened chitin, and below them is the tongue, called a glossa
- GuestIt looks like a serrated knife!
Bugscope Teamyes it does, exactically!
- 10:06 am
- Bugscope Teamsometimes we can see more clearly that the two sides slide, side by side, to cut better into what they're stinging
- Bugscope Teamthis is a male mosquito
- Bugscope Teamwe can tell, without a microscope, which ones are males
- GuestIt looks like a Dr. Seuss character
- Bugscope Teamstingers are modified ovipositors, and some insects use them to both sting and deliver eggs
Bugscope TeamThis, in combination with the fact that honey bee stingers are serrated, is the reason why honeybees die after stinging. Their sting gets stuck in the "stingees" tissue and when the honeybee goes to pull it out, she rips her reproductive system out of her abdomen and bleeds to death
- Bugscope Teamwhen honeybees sting mammals, their stingers get stuck and cannot be pulled easily out of our thick skin
- Bugscope Teambut they can sting other insects no problem
- 10:11 am
- Bugscope Teammale mosquitoes have these beautiful frilly antennae, whereas those of the females are kind of dull, in comparison
Bugscope TeamThe frills provide the mosquito with more surface area for chemoreceptors to smell better, and allow male mosquitos to better sense the wingbeats of female mosquitos
- Bugscope Teammosquitoes have tiny scales on the surfaces of much of their exoskeleton, like moths and butterflies and silverfish
Bugscope Teamthe tiny scales are kind of like feathers and may have a similar function, but one of their main functions is that they help protect those insects that have them from getting caught in spiderwebs
- GuestWhat happens to the other insects when they get stung?
Bugscope TeamI think likely it kills them, or most of them
Bugscope TeamDo you mean stung as in a wasp stinging other insects or biten as in a mosquito biting another insect?
- Bugscope Teamwhen honeybees sting other insects it is comparable to wasp sting, which can be done repeatedly, even with mammals
- Bugscope Teamtick leaning on a log
- 10:16 am
- Guestdo all ticks carry lyme disease?
- Guestwasp sting
Bugscope TeamWell wasps actually frequently "sting" caterpillars. I put "sting" in " because the wasps aren't doing the stinging for defense they are actually laying their eggs in the caterpillar when they sting them
Bugscope TeamIf you've ever seen the movie Alien - it's kinda like that
Bugscope TeamThe wasp eggs sit inside of the caterpillar growing and when they are ready to pupate they burrow out of the caterpillar and cocoon on their body
Bugscope TeamSocial wasps will also sting caterpillars, which they then chew up and feed to their larvae. The social wasps are the ones you are probably most familiar with. Many of the parasitic wasps mentioned above are super tiny and easily overlooked by the casual observer
Bugscope TeamThis stinging is again not for defense, but is a bit closer to actual stinging than parasitic wasps laying eggs
- Bugscope Teamticks start out with six legs and then metamorphose into adult stages, with eight legs
Bugscope TeamSome tick can transmit diseases between other animals and humans, like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Some ticks also have venomous saliva which can induce paralysis in their hosts
- Bugscope TeamThis tick looks to me like is the Lone Star Tick
- Bugscope Teamthe part facing us helps the tick keep this central portion of its head stuck into your skin
- 10:22 am
- Bugscope Teamat the very top of the image we see now, there's a portion of the mouthparts that rasps against your skin so it can cut into it and get blood back out
- Bugscope Teamthis is the part of the hypostome -- the part that sticks beneath your skin like a hypodermic needle -- that rasps
- GuestDoes that mean it is from Texas?
Bugscope TeamNope! although it could be. The lonestar tick can be found over much of the eastern half of the united states. It gets its name from a white star shaped dot on its back. And maybe whoever named it was from Texas and made the association? not sure about that part, but I suppose its possible
- Bugscope Teamearlier, further down on the body, we found features like these that resemble red blood cells
- 10:27 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are always looking for red blood cells on ticks. they're usually 8 to 10 microns in diameter and may be shrunken as well.
- GuestWhat is the hole?
Bugscope Teamthat very round hole was from a pin; the stinkbug had been mounted for someone's collection
- 10:32 am
- Bugscope Teamthe smaller hole was an opening of the stink gland on the stinkbug's right side
Bugscope TeamSome stink bugs emit a smell that is similar to coriander
- Bugscope Teamthis is the absorbent area of the cuticle around the opening of the stink gland on the left side
- Bugscope TeamLuke I am your Uncle, the stinkbug.
- Bugscope Teamsee its compound eyes, on either side of its head?
- Bugscope Teamstinkbugs are said to be repelled by, or at least understand the repulsion produced by, their own bad smell
Bugscope TeamI kind of enjoy the stink bug smell to be honest. It reminds me of green apple jolly ranchers...
Bugscope TeamBut I bet it doesn't TASTE like green apple jolly ranchers...
- Bugscope Teamplease, everyone, feel free to ask us questions about what you see or how this all works
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that a stink bug is in fact a true bug - this is because they have a piercing sucking mouthpart - aka the long tube that you can partially see between the yes
- Bugscope Teameyes*
- 10:41 am
- Bugscope Teamthe mottled features we see are likely more due to the stinkbug decaying/rotting
- GuestWhat do they eat?
Bugscope TeamThe puncture various parts of plants with their tube like mouthparts and drink plant juices
Bugscope TeamMany cause damage to crops like apples
Bugscope TeamSome stink bugs are also predators. They jab their beak into other insects and drink their juices.
Bugscope Teamusually when 'true' bugs like that are predators, they have a three-piece proboscis, and the rostrum (the beak part) is super hard and pointy
- GuestWhere do they lay their eggs?
Bugscope TeamThey try to lay their eggs on or near their host plants
Bugscope TeamI'm not 100% sure, but I imagine predacious ones would lay their eggs where the female feels the young will find prey
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the raptorial forelimbs of the praying mantis; the tooth-like elements we see are used to help grip the mantis's prey
- 10:46 am
- Bugscope TeamDoes anyone know if the "teeth" also function as mechanoreceptors of some kind, perhaps pressure sensors?
Bugscope TeamI bet some of them are equipped as mechanoreceptors.
- Bugscope Teamthese looked like scratches on the surface of the compound eye, but we can see that they are strands of fungus -- fungal hyphae
- 10:51 am
- Bugscope TeamNice hamuli.
- Bugscope TeamThe velcro of the bee world.
- GuestI can see that.
- Bugscope Teamhere, now, we are looking at the hooks, called hamuli, as Daniel says, that help honeybees and wasps and other bees hold their fore- and hindwings together when they fly
- GuestWhat are hamuli?
Bugscope TeamThey actually act like velcro, though I'm sure one of the true entomologists here can give a better explanation. They're used to hold the pairs of bee wings together during flight.
Bugscope TeamThey basically zip the wings together.
Bugscope Teamhamuli are not exclusive to bees, most wasps, bees and ants have them. Similar structures also exist in moths, although I can never remember what they are called...
- 10:56 am
- Bugscope Teambees and wasps have four wings, and it is more efficient for them to fly with essentially two wings, so they clip them together when they fly
Bugscope TeamAcross insect groups we typically see either a fusion of hind and forewings, or a loss in flight function in one pair of wings, for the reason that Scott mentioned.
Bugscope Teamflies for example have reduced hind wings called halteres, which function as flight stabilizers rather than as flapping wings
Bugscope Teambeetles have modified forewings called elytra which act as a shell that protects them and only use their hind wings for powered flight
- GuestMs. Brabham and Ms. Lavergne's classes- Do you have any questions you would like to ask the scientists?
- 11:01 am
- Bugscope TeamBea's Bunch we really appreciate your, and everyone else's, connecting with us today. Our scheduled school did not show up.
- Bugscope TeamYou are always welcome to log on as guests when we're doing this -- usually twice a week during the season (about 9 months), and fewer times outside of the season.
- Bugscope Teamyou are of course also welcome to apply for sessions specifically set up for your school
- Bugscope Teamtime for us to go...
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Everyone!
- Bugscope TeamLogging off!
