Connected on 2014-10-27 12:00:00
from El Paso County, Colorado, United States
- 11:10 am
- Bugscope TeamWe are in the process of preparing the sample. The scope will be online shortly to set up presets for the noon session.
- 11:16 am
- Bugscope TeamSample being retrieved from the sputter-coater now.
- 11:23 am
- Bugscope TeamHello, Greg. We're putting the sample into the scope now.
- Bugscope TeamIt will be a few minutes before we start setting the presets. This process will take a total of about 30 minutes. Once that's done, we'll let you know here that you can begin using the scope. OK?
- 11:34 am
- Bugscope TeamWe're setting the presets now.
- 11:40 am
- 11:46 am
- 11:52 am
- Bugscope TeamWe're done setting presets.
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- Bugscope TeamYou're good to start.
- 11:58 am
- TeacherHello, we are ready!
- Bugscope Teamyay!
- TeacherWhat are we looking at?
- Bugscope TeamGo for it. I was just running through the presets myself to confirm they work, but you can control the scope yourself now.
- Bugscope TeamGreg I am sorry -- we received your insects but didn't have time to get them assembled onto a stub.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the claw of one of the yellowjackets
- Bugscope TeamAt the moment, we are looking at a yellowjacket - a type of hornet - claw.
- Bugscope TeamIt is one of the "hands" of the yellowjacket.
- Bugscope Teamunfortunately neither of the two yellowjackets had a good stinger
- Bugscope Teamhere we can see one of the claws quite well, and we can see long setae that help alert the yellowjacket that something is in its grasp -- that is what look like hairs
- Bugscope Teamthere is also a rolled-looking pad to the right of the claw that is the backside of the pulvillus, which helps the insect cling to surfaces
- 12:03 pm
- TeacherAre those hairs?
Bugscope TeamYes. They are termed "setae" because they aren't made the same way as human hair. The setae are used to detect movement, temperature, and chemicals (they can "taste") depending upon the stype of setae.
Bugscope TeamIt is probably better to think of them as "bristles" rather than hair, but for convenience, we often (here, not scientifically) use the term hair or hairy.
- Bugscope Teamto us it looks as if, depending on the insect, some pairs of claws open and close and some are just static -- they do not open and close to grasp things and let them go
- Bugscope TeamYou can do the driving now. Click on the blue arrow to expand the list of presets, then click once on the preset to move there.
- Bugscope TeamIf you want to move around in this (or any other image), just click on a point in the image to center it.
- Bugscope Teamthe second claw we cannot see here...
- Bugscope TeamTo zoom in our out, use the "+" and "-" buttons next to the word "Magnification" at the top. (If those aren't showing up, please let us know.)
- Bugscope TeamRight now Scot is tweaking the image to show you what he thinks is some spider web.
- Bugscope TeamFeel free to interrupt him at any time by clicking on a preset or moving around yourself.
Bugscope TeamIn fact, each change he makes doesn't show up in your database, so it is helpful to make some of the changes yourself if you want to see the images after the session is over.
- 12:09 pm
- Bugscope Teamhere we can see some bristles, between segments of one of the limbs, called tarsi or tarsomeres, that help the yellowjacket sense when it has moved its arm
- TeacherIs that dirt in between the bristles?
Bugscope TeamProbably. We see quite a bit of that. Often it is hard to tell.
Bugscope TeamHowever, if it is biological - usually fungal, but occasionally bacterial or pollen - we can spot that immediately.
- Bugscope Teamsometimes we find bacterial biofilms
- Bugscope Teamsome types of bacteria secrete and lay down a liquid film that they can all live in
- Bugscope TeamGreg please try again and let us know, or we'll see...
- Bugscope TeamYay!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the eye of a tiny moth
- TeacherFYI - We can't seem to click on any of the other images
Bugscope TeamTry again.
Bugscope TeamWe have a setting here that may not have been set right.
Bugscope TeamDid you do that? I hope so!
- 12:14 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is the compound eye, just a part of it
- TeacherWhat are those specks?
Bugscope TeamMostly dust.
Bugscope TeamIf you zoom in, you'll see something really interesting.
- Bugscope Teamso far it is mostly dust -- the larger thing may be a desiccated bacterium
- Bugscope TeamEach of these hexagon shapes are a single ommatidium - together they make up the compound eye
- Bugscope Teamgood job driving!
- Bugscope Teamthe fine features we see are about 300 to 400 nm in diameter, so you are imaging on the nanoscale
- Bugscope TeamIt is hard to focus at this magnification.
- Bugscope TeamThere's some spiderweb.
- Bugscope TeamEach eye (which you can see mostly in full if you zoom all the way out) is made up of smaller ommatidia. UGH. TJ just beat me! :)
Bugscope Teammuahhaha ;)
- Bugscope Teamwe can see some spiderweb to the right
- Bugscope Teamthis is so cute!
- Bugscope TeamLadybug larva. Kind of punkish.
- Bugscope Teamthey eat aphids
- 12:19 pm
- Bugscope Teamsometimes we will find aphid bodies on the bodies of the ladybug larvae
Bugscope Teamaphid corpses, just in time for Halloween!
- Bugscope Teamthe ladybug larva does not have compound eyes; they will not form until it becomes an adult
- Bugscope Teaminstead it has maybe five 'stemmata' on each side of the head
- Bugscope TeamIn movies - "bug vision" is portrayed as the insect seeing the same image out of each panel - so multiple images of what ever it is looking at
Bugscope TeamThis is not how insects see though
Bugscope TeamInsects actually end up seeing more of a slightly blurry image of whatever they're looking at
Bugscope TeamThey have a great viewing radius - but don't nearly have as good of eye sight as humans
Bugscope TeamThis bugs me (hahaha - get it) about TV shows that give you a dual-image view through binoculars. It's like to director has never been bothered to actually use a pair, ever.
- TeacherWhat are those spikes for?
Bugscope TeamI think they are for protection against getting eaten and or stung
Bugscope TeamProbably defensive, but TJ - our entomologist - would probably say more. They give the appearance of being threatening, but in actuality aren't. (That doesn't mean that all spikey insects *aren't* nasty. The saddleback caterpillar comes to mind.
Bugscope TeamAs far as my knowledge goes - the spikes are more for helping camouflage though they are likely to also help with looking threatening
- Bugscope Teamwith earwigs we can tell because the pincer tails are close together in females and bowed and further apart with males
- 12:25 pm
- Bugscope TeamSitting for a portrait...
- Bugscope Teamwith mosquitoes and some moths, the antennae of the males are far more ornate than those of the females
- TeacherAre those antennae?
Bugscope TeamYes. The tips are broken off, unfortunately.
- TeacherWhere are the eyes?
Bugscope Teamthey're off to the sides , you can see the notch on the right one
Bugscope TeamThe front one is just under and to the right of the antenna.
Bugscope Teamyou can also make out one of the ocelli on the top there
- TeacherCan you tell male or females?
Bugscope Teamwith some insects we can tell easily, and with some we would have to break the insect open to see
Bugscope Teamwith flies, the male compound eyes are often close together, to almost touching, whereas those of the females are far apart
Bugscope TeamFor insects with a larva stage - you can't tell if the insect will be male or female
Bugscope TeamBecause the larva stage focus is primarily growth - the insect puts no energy into gender until they pupate
Bugscope Teamwhen they pupate - they activate these parts of their body called imaginal disks which will allow the larva to gain all of the features it lacked before - wings, proper legs, proper antennae, proper eyes, gender, etc
- Bugscope TeamScott is zooming in.
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see the left compound eye better
- 12:30 pm
- TeacherOcelli?
Bugscope Teamocelli are "simple" eyes that detect light
Bugscope TeamI just clicked on the ocellus preset
Bugscope Teamtheir purposes aren't well understood, but are hypothesized to help with motion detection, circadian rhythms, and navigation during flight
Bugscope Teamthey don't actually convey an image to the insect
- Bugscope Teamthis is uncommon-looking salt
- TeacherAre they always cracked like that?
Bugscope Teamonly this kind of salt has those shapes
- Bugscope TeamWendy's salt
Bugscope Teamlooks kinda like the allspark ;)
Bugscope Teamor the cube from the game portal
- Bugscope Teamwe can see the ocelli now, on the back of the head
- Bugscope Teamwe can see the antennae, on the top of the head, now
- 12:38 pm
- TeacherWhat does the antennae do?
Bugscope TeamScott's writing a long reply, but it just disappeared. He's starting over.
Bugscope Teamthe antennae serve a few functions. the base has internal components that help it tune in on the wingbeats of other flies
- Bugscope Teamin addition, the antennae can sense chemicals in the air, allowing the fly to follow those chemical trails to their sources
- Bugscope Teamhere we are looking right into the mouth of the cucumber beetle
- TeacherIs that the mouth?
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- Bugscope Teamwe can see two sets of palps, which help taste and manipulate food
Bugscope Teamyou beat me to it
- Bugscope Teamand we can see the mandibles (the jaws), which open left and right, like a gate
- Bugscope Teamthe central part is called the clypeus, and it moves up and down, as well, as the beetle eats
- Bugscope Teamlet them eat salt
- Bugscope TeamMoth scales.
- Bugscope Teamso pretty!
- 12:43 pm
- Bugscope Teammoths, butterflies and skippers, silverfish, mosquitoes, and few other insects have scales
- Bugscope TeamGot a bit of a bald spot there.
Bugscope TeamDon't say it, Scott.
- Bugscope Teamscales come off easily
- Bugscope Teamthey provide protection from spiderwebs
- Bugscope Teamalthough this particular moth seems to have been bundled up into a spiderweb
- TeacherCan moths grow scales back?
Bugscope Teamno they cannot
- Bugscope Teamonce an insect grows wings, it is an adult, and after that it does not regrow anything
- Bugscope Teamthe downside to having wings
- TeacherTarsus?
- 12:48 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe last five or so segments of a limb are called the tarsi
- Bugscope Teamor tarsomeres
- Bugscope Teamthe claw is also technically one of the tarsi
- Bugscope TeamI am an electron microscopist, and Daniel is a plant person/computer scientist/renaissance dude.
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of one of the palps
- TeacherWhat is a palp again?
- Bugscope Teamit has chemosensory setae on it, like tastebuds
- Bugscope TeamTJ and Joe are entomologists and can correct me when necessary
Bugscope Team:)
Bugscope Teamyou have a lot of entomology under your belt Scott
- Bugscope Teamthe palps are accessory mouthparts, like feelers, that help the insect taste and also manipulate its food
- 12:53 pm
- Bugscope TeamThanks! Bye!
- TeacherOkay, we need to leave now. Thank you so much. We learned a lot!
Bugscope TeamThanks for participating! We had fun.
Bugscope TeamThank you - I'm glad you learned a lot and had fun :)
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2014-060
- Bugscope Teamwe think the salt has an anticaking agent in it that makes it form those crystals
Bugscope TeamWhy would someone not want cake? Cake is delicious! :)
Bugscope Teamthe cake is a lie
Bugscope TeamWhat you crazy? Cake - especially spice cake - is yummy.
Bugscope Teamportal - empty cake promises
Bugscope TeamEh? Portal? Promises? You kids and yer smarty phones and what not.
