Connected on 2015-04-22 10:30:00
from Contra Costa County, California, United States
- 10:27 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!!!
- 12:12 pm
- TeacherHi There! So for our mix up earlier. The kids will be coming in from recess shortly and we will get started!
- Bugscope Teamhi!
- TeacherHi Cate! Just to brief you before my kiddos come in. We are a group of 4th graders at Quail Run Elementary in San Ramon, California. I am going to let you show us things on the microscope (we're using just one computer) the kids have some pre made questions for you they came up with. We have been learning about adaptations so anything you can show us would be great. I am going to get the kids from the playground I will let you know when we are all back! We are so excited!
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- 12:17 pm
- Bugscope Teamyes please let us know when you have questions
- Bugscope Teamand also, please feel free to use the controls to drive around, perhaps to see all of the presets on the left hand screen
- Bugscope Teamdriving the 'scope to those places (clicking on the presets) will ensure that the images are saved to your member page for today's session
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2014-088
- TeacherHi Scot and Cate! We are the 4th Graders!
- TeacherWe are so excited. What are we looking at right now?
- TeacherOur guess is that this is a house fly? Are we correct?
Bugscope Teamfruitfly. close
- 12:23 pm
- TeacherOur student Stella guessed correctly!
- GuestHey Scot could you shoot me an email with the log in info? Not on my personal comp and I forgot it.
- Bugscope Teamno problem, just a sec
- Bugscope Teamwe can see, to the right, the compound eye, which has hundreds of facets, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teameach ommatidium is capable of collecting an image, and the images are processed by the fly's brain to produce a large view of its surroundings
- Bugscope Teama large percentage of a fruitfly's brain is devoted to visual processing
- TeacherCan you show us some cool things about this fly?
Bugscope TeamThis is a close up of the eyes. Each of the facets are called ommatidium.
Bugscope Teamthey work together to complete an image for the fly. The end result being a picture that is sort of pixellated and low resolution
Bugscope Teaminstead of the typical popular media depiction of the kaleidoscope/multiple full images
- 12:28 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis fly is upside down, from our view
- TeacherDo you have any other cool insects you can show us?
- Bugscope Teamthe mouth is in the middle, left, lower portion of the image
- TeacherThe students are curious, why does the fly have so much hair?
Bugscope TeamSince insects are covered with an exoskeleton. they have the hairs to be able to sense their environment
Bugscope Teamthey dont have skin that feels like ours does
- Bugscope Teamfruitflies are said to like to eat the yeast that forms on decaying fruit
- Bugscope TeamI moved us to the other one, which is more upright
- Bugscope Teamthe three spots up top are the ocelli
- Bugscope Teamthey're also called 'simple eyes'\
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that on the top of its head it has three smaller eyes
Bugscope Teamthese eyes are supposedly used for quickly sensing changes in light/dark
- Bugscope Teamthere are scales from other insects, like moths or butterflies, on the back of its head, which is to the left
- Bugscope Teamthe hole we see is a thoracic spiracle -- a breathing pore on one side of the thorax, which the head, legs, and abdomen are attached to
- 12:33 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe are looking into the spiracle now
- Bugscope Teamit is connect to tubes called tracheae that run inside of the body and deliver oxygen to internal organs
- Bugscope Teamwe see, also, those things that look like long skinny potato chips
- TeacherSo does the fly have lungs?
Bugscope Teamthey do not.
Bugscope Teamrather they have a tracheal system as Scot stated.
- Bugscope Teamthose are more scales, from a butterfly, perhaps
- TeacherDo you have a different bug to show us?
- Bugscope TeamWow!
- Bugscope Teamwe are lucky that insects do not have a more efficient means of breathing, because if they did they might be able to get bigger
- TeacherWOW!!!!
- Bugscope Teamthis is a female mosquito
- Bugscope Teamwe have some wasps, an ant, some pollen, a true bug, a moth, and aphids
- Bugscope TeamThis is an amazingly intact mosquito
Bugscope Teamwith most of its scales still on
- Bugscope Teamoh and a beetle
- Bugscope TeamCate made this sample for us yesterday and did a great job getting it so perfect
Bugscope Team+1
- Bugscope TeamSo, in this shot, we're looking at the mosquito head on.
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eye, like those of the fruitfly, but the ommatidia are like little balls rather than smoothed segment
- Bugscope Teamrather than smoothed segments of each eye...
- 12:38 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe round things in the middle are called pedicels, which are the bases of the antennae
- TeacherThis question is from Anirudh
- Bugscope Teammosquitoes have their own scales, one function of which is to protect the mosquito from getting caught in spiderwebs
- TeacherLike bubble wrap!
Bugscope Teamit is a bit like thatg
- TeacherWhy do some of the ommatidia look deflated?
Bugscope Teameven though we dry the mosquitoes a special way, called critical point drying, some of the ommatidia will collapse when they become dry
- TeacherOur student Purajit would like to know what is the biggest difference between the mosquito and the fruit fly?
Bugscope Teamthe mouthparts
Bugscope Teamthe fruit fly has sponging type mouth parts, where as the mosquito has piercing sucking mouthparts
Bugscope Teamthe fruit fly's mouth works by sponging up the (probably already mushy) fruit bits, and lapping up the resulting juices
Bugscope Teamthe mosquito's mouth is like a needle, and its saliva has some analgesic properties as it sucks up blood undetected
- TeacherCan you show us something cool about the mosquito?
- Bugscope Teamfemale mosquito antennae are kind of plain looking, whereas male antennae are fancy, kind of frilly
- Bugscope Teamthis is really cool
- Bugscope Teamthese are the biting mouthparts
- TeacherOr a different bug?
Bugscope Teamthis is one of the best views of the tip of the proboscis, and the tip of the fascicle, that we have ever had
- Bugscope Teamand also the siphon tube for bloodsucking
- Bugscope Teamyou can see two of the cutting parts, with serrations on them, right in front
- 12:43 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the fascicle, which is relatively long and sticks into your skin
- TeacherSohum would like to know do only the females suck blood? And males suck nectar?
Bugscope Teamonly females suck blood. both sexes will feed on nectar.
Bugscope Teamthe blood meal is required in some species for proper egg development
- Bugscope Teamare those tooth the bits that keep the probocis from sliding back out?
Bugscope TeamI believe, although mosquitoes can be different, that there are four of those stylets; they are closely appressed into an efficient cutting, saliva-delivering, and bloodsucking instrument
- TeacherDo you have a butterfly?
Bugscope Teamwe have two moths
- TeacherCan we see the moth?
- Bugscope Teamhere is one of the moths
- 12:48 pm
- Bugscope Teamits proboscis is sticking out to the left
- TeacherWhat is that?
- Bugscope Teammoth proboscises and those of butterflies are often coiled up when they are not being used
- TeacherJaden think they might be like a big straw? Is that true?
Bugscope Teamyup!
- TeacherHow are the ommatidia of the moth different then the one on the mosquito and fly?
Bugscope Teamfirst, there are many more. also, they can probably see wavelengths of light that mosquitoes and flies in general do not
Bugscope Teamthe ommatidium themselves are pretty similar. they are both superposition eye types (i think)
Bugscope Teamthis allows them to see better at low light (light from adjacent ommatidia bleeds in), but at the cost of the image not being as sharp
- TeacherAre there any spiders or bees you can show us?
Bugscope Teamwe have some wasps
Bugscope Teamhere is a small parasitic wasp
- TeacherWhat are we looking at right now? Can we see their stinger if they have one?
Bugscope Teamwe looked for stingers on both of the wasps today, and I am sorry -- they were not where we could see them
- 12:55 pm
- TeacherOk! That's alright! Can you show us some cool stuff on this wasp?
Bugscope Teamthe first thing you might notice is the mouth parts are very different from the moth and the flies
Bugscope Teamalthough this is covered up by the antenna
- Bugscope Teamhere this is the other wasp I was trying to get to earlier
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the mandibles and two of the palps
- Bugscope TeamHere's a clearer shot of the mouth parts
Bugscope Teamthe parts that looks like large doors are the mandibles
- TeacherWhat do wasps eat?
- Bugscope Teamyellowjackets can eat just about anything. others are more specialized
- 1:01 pm
- TeacherDo we have time for another bug? We are going to sit back and let you show and explain things for a bit
Bugscope Teamyes we have time -- the 1 o'clock person will be about 15 minutes late getting on
- Bugscope Teamthis is an aphid\
- Bugscope Teamthese are the little roundish insects, very small, that feed on plants
- Bugscope Teamaphids feed on plant juices
- Bugscope Teamthey have a thin proboscis (we can see the distal end of it, closest to the body) that sticks into leaves, for example
- Bugscope Teamthe piercing/sucking mouth parts are sort of in the middle there.
Bugscope Team(going from middle of the photo, straight down towards the bottom)
- Bugscope Teamoften they do not have wings, but when one generation is subject to stress from overpopulation, the next generation may be born with wings
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see the whole piercing/sucking mouthpart
- Bugscope Teamthe eyes have less facets than we've seen in the flies and the moth
Bugscope Teamthis is probably because they rely on their vision less, the aphids move about less, and are somewhat hidden from predators
- Bugscope Teamaphids have two projections from the backs of their abdomens that look like dual exhausts on a car or truck
- 1:07 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe projections are called siphuncles, or more commonly 'cornicles'
Bugscope Teamthe cornicles have defensive properties, and exude chemicals as a response
- Bugscope Teamladybugs, in both larval and adult form, like to eat aphids, which are softbodied, like little bonbons
- TeacherThank you so so much! We really learned a lot and enjoyed this!
- Bugscope Teamthe cornicles protect the aphids from ants, some of which farm them like little cattle and some of which just prefer to eat them.
Bugscope Teamthe ants that farm them feed on their honeydew, which is the excrement (left over plant juices undigested by the aphid)
- Bugscope Teamthank you for joining us today!
- Bugscope Teamthanks!
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Bugscope TeamThis is a trapjaw ant, to see you out.
- Bugscope TeamBye!
