Connected on 2015-04-29 18:30:00
from Alameda County, California, United States
- 5:32 pm
- Bugscope Teamsample is in 'scope and pumping down
- 5:44 pm
- 5:50 pm
- 5:55 pm
- 6:03 pm
- 6:12 pm
- 6:18 pm
- 6:28 pm
- Teacherhi all - we are just starting class and I will prep the students on what we are doing - so we may not start chatting for about 10 minutes while I introduce things :0
- Bugscope Teamcool. looking for more interesting stuff...
- 6:34 pm
- Bugscope TeamHi Misha!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Guestthanks!
- Guesthi Scot J!
Bugscope TeamAre you with CSUEB or from somewhere else in the Outer World?
- 6:40 pm
- Bugscope TeamHi Laura! Bethany! Megan!
- Bugscope TeamHi Heather L!
- GuestHi ScotJ!
- Bugscope TeamYay!
- GuestHi ScotJ!
- Bugscope TeamThis is a spider's leg, up close.
- Bugscope TeamYou can see that they have setae (hairs) that are kind of frilly on all sides like a pine tree.
- Bugscope TeamHi Kristie! Hello Jammin' Jennifer!
- Bugscope Teamhaha
- Bugscope TeamHi Rebecca!
- GuestWhat are the holes?
Bugscope TeamI hadn't noticed them before. I am not sure if they're empty sockets or a sort of pore.
- Bugscope TeamSpiders have a cephalothorax, like a head/trunk, that is hard like an insect's exoskeleton.
- 6:45 pm
- TeacherWho has control of the scope? This is Korb here.
Bugscope Teamum, me?
Bugscope TeamYou should have control.
- Bugscope TeamCSUEB can you see the controls or are they just not there?
- Bugscope TeamLately, with the change to a new server, some of these things are not quite the same as they were.
- Bugscope TeamAre there any librarians or library science students online?
- Bugscope Teamha you are driving
- TeacherI don't see the scope controls. No librarians online
Bugscope TeamJust let us know where you want to go unless you want to try logging out and in again...
Bugscope Teamsorry....
- TeacherI will log out and in again
- Bugscope TeamDr K I gave you control in your new blue attire.
- 6:51 pm
- StudentTell us about this image.
Bugscope Teamthis is the ball and socket joint that connects one of the rolypoly's 14 legs to its body.
Bugscope Teamlike where the head of the femur goes into the pelvis, except for a rolpoly.
- Bugscope Teamthe little setae, or bristles, we see are likely for proprioception.
- Bugscope Teamrolypolys are not actually insects. They are isopods, a group of crustaceans, some of which have adapted to living on land
- GuestAre the long structures hair?
Bugscope Teamyes but we are not supposed to call them hair.
Bugscope Teamsome are microsetae, which don't extend through the exoskeleton, and some are setae, which reach through to nerves beneath
- Guestwhat is "proprioception"?
Bugscope Teamsensing where your body parts are in relation to one another. for example, when you raise your arm you can feel that the arm is raised above your head even if you have your eyes closed.
Bugscope Teamsome of the setae are located within and around joints, so when the rolypoly bends them the hairs also move and this is interpreted as self movement by the isopod. Insects and other arthropods also use setae for similar purposes.
- 6:56 pm
- Guestare scorpions isopods?
Bugscope Teamno they are arachnids, like spiders
Bugscope Teamscorpions chew their food...
- GuestIs the structural design of a rolypoly's leg joints the same as that of a crab? Up close, it looks like crab legs.
- Guestwhat are some other isopods?
Bugscope Teammost live underwater, like something called a sea slater
Bugscope TeamThere are some pretty bizarre species of parasitic marine isopods. For example, some species enter the mouths of fish and bite their tongues off, replacing them and eating bits of food that the fish take into their mouths
- StudentHi Scott, This is Sarafina. We would like to see a spider's face.
Bugscope TeamI am sorry -- we can get close, maybe, but it is hard to make out
Bugscope Teamlet's start with being on the spider...
- 7:01 pm
- Studentwhat is the light part?
Bugscope Teamhard to tell just how Cate made the sample. it's like she took two spiders, one with shaved legs and one without, and piled them onto each other.
- Studentare the fangs in the picture?
Bugscope Teamyes to the upper left
Bugscope Teamthey are unfortunately covered with juju
- Studentwhats ju ju?
Bugscope Teamit's usually the one thing in an image that we don't recognize. sometimes it is a dried fluid.
- 7:07 pm
- GuestAre the spines on the spider's legs similar to those of the rolypoly? Can they smell, taste, and sense too?
Bugscope Teamit depends on where the spines are; with a spider they are mostly vibration sensory
Bugscope Teamdifferent setae in different places smell and taste and sense hot/cold; sometimes they are at the tips of the legs or just on palps, near the head
- Bugscope Teamhousefly
- Bugscope Teamthis is Uma Thurman's birthday, right?
- Studentwhat is the part in the back?
- Guestinteresting. so I'm confused about this though. SJ suggested that scorpions are not isopods because they chew their food. So these parasitic marine isopods bite. Do they chew? Is chewing or not chewing one of the characteristics that defines what isopods are?
Bugscope TeamI confused things by saying that scorpions chew their food, but I meant compared to spiders, who suck their food up like a milkshake
Bugscope TeamDuh and I met this woman who was a complete spider freak a month or so ago, and she told me spiders chew. not sure I believe her.
Bugscope Teamall crustaceans belong to the subphylum mandibulata, which is characterized by having mandibulate mouthparts. mandibles are jaw like structures typically used for chewing, although some mandibulata have reduced mandibles or have lost them completely and may use them to suck food. spiders and scorpions are both arachnids, which is part of the subphylum Chelicerata, characterized by having chelicerate mouthparts. chelicerae are jointed structures which can be used to suck up prey (spider fangs for example are a part of the spiders chelicerae). Scorpions also use their chelicerae to crush their food
Bugscope TeamScott, theyll use their chelicerae to crush their food to squeeze the juices out. so yes they chew, but they can still only swallow liquid food, and they also regurgitate digestive enymes onto their food to help liquify it
- GuestGreat questions, Natalie!
- Bugscope Teamflies with their eyes far apart are females, like Uma Thurman; flies with their eyes close together are males, like Mikhail Baryshnikov.
- GuestIs there a gland that secretes the spider's web?
Bugscope Teamthere are glands in the abdomen that produce the liquid that becomes web when it hits the air; some web is sticky and some is not; they can make it the way they need to, and and I am not sure how
- 7:12 pm
- GuestDo spiders have blood?
Bugscope TeamI think they have a version of hemolymph, which is what insects have that is like blood
Bugscope TeamI believe their blood is called hemocyanin. Instead of using an iron atom to transport oxygen it uses a copper atom.
- Studentwhy do they eyes look like nets?
Bugscope Teamthe most efficient way of stacking spheres in a dome-like shape, like stacking oranges, is in hexagons. the ommatidia - the eye facets - are similar
- Bugscope TeamJosh is a mymecologist but he knows a lot about other more distasteful (to him) insects and arthropods.
- Bugscope Teamoops myrmecologist
- Guestah, sorry about that! entomologist.
- GuestJosh, SJ and Scot J, are you entymologists and could you tell me what a typical (work) day is like for you?
Bugscope TeamThe correct term is entomologist. Ive also been called an etymologist, which is someone who studies the origin of words, so you are pretty close compared to some people!
Bugscope TeamI am currently a graduate student, so I take a lot of classes in addition to doing research. Right now my actual thesis project hasnt officially started so i have been focusing on finishing up some side projects. I am hoping to conduct research on arboreal trap-jaw ants in Peru this summer as part of my thesis research
- GuestI imagine that a sticky web is used for capturing prey. What is a non-sticky web typically used for?
Bugscope Teamclimbing on, if you are a spider
- Guestcan we look at the web glands?
Bugscope Teamno I am sorry -- they are on the abdomen, which usually shrinks like crazy -- it often shrivels up
Bugscope Teamspider abdomenal cuticle does not contain exocuticle, which is the layer of the exoskeleton that gives it its rigid structure. because of this, the abdomen is relatively soft and often shrinks when dried out.
- GuestWhat part of the spider does the web come out of? What is the web made of? Do all spiders have the capability of spinning a web?
Bugscope Teamthe webbing comes out of the spinnerets, which are located on the ventro-posterior part of the abdomen. Spiders have anywhere from 4 to 8 spinnerets. The webbing is composed of many proteins that are originally in liquid form, but the process of moving through the spinnerets rearranges their position within the liquid and causes the proteins to solidify into the web strands you are used to seeing
Bugscope TeamAll spiders can produce webbing, but most do not construct the orb shaped webs people typically think of when they picture spiders
- 7:17 pm
- Bugscope TeamWhen we make a sample we are working at the macro level, and even when we use a light microscope we cannot tell how good or bad the sample will be at high mag. We also usually mount the samples ventral side up so you can see more stuff.
- StudentIn this image what are the holes (dimple) that we are seeing?
Bugscope Teamthose are little craters in the doublestick carbon tape we use to help hold the insects/arthropods down on the stub.
- GuestFor the rolypoly, What are the panels called on the exoskeleton?
Bugscope Teampereonites
Bugscope Teamthe thorax is called the pereon
- StudentHi Scott, this is Laura, do you have any dorsal views of the rolly polly?
Bugscope Teamhaha No. I am so sorry. Cate made the sample, but I would like have given you ventral views as well.
Bugscope Teambecause dorsal views are often not as interesting, and one of the rolypolys might have better mouthparts, for example
- Guestcool Josh G, how did you decide to focus on arboreal trap-jaw ants? and are they only found in Peru?
Bugscope TeamI am very interested in studying the evolution of novel prey capture mechanisms in ants, and how biomechanical properties of these mechanisms constrain and guide the evolution of these mechanisms. Trap-jaw ants are an excellent group to study this because trap-jaws have evolved independently multiple times within ants.
Bugscope TeamI chose to study this particular group of ants because they are in a lineage of trap-jaw ants which has been relatively understudied, and their arboreal life style may impose certain limitations on how they can use their trap-jaws which could be interesting to study
Bugscope TeamScott sometimes puts trap-jaw ant specimens on the plates to show bugscope classes, but did not this time, so I'll try not to steal the thunder of the other specimens currently on this plate by talking about them too much ;)
- Guestcool Josh G, thanks for telling me about your studies! and good luck in Peru!
- 7:22 pm
- GuestIs there a specific number of pereonites that the rolypoly typical have?
Bugscope Teameight; I just looked it up. there are seven pairs of legs on these
- GuestThank you!
- Guestis it looking right at us?
- Bugscope TeamI think rolypolies look like old-time librarians, so mean
Bugscope TeamNah, rolypolies have much fewer legs....
- StudentIn this image, which part is the mouth?
Bugscope Teamkind of a bulldog mouth
Bugscope Teamthe top part of the image. what Scott is zooming in on now
- GuestA spider we are observing in class looks like it has an extra pair of legs near its mouth? What are these called?
Bugscope Teampalps, or pedipalps
Bugscope Teamthose of males are usually larger and more bulbous; those of females are usually smaller
Bugscope Teamthe males use the pedipalps for sperm transfer
- 7:28 pm
- GuestWhat "stuff" is housed inside of a spider's abdomen
Bugscope Teamwhat will become the web, for one thing; spiders can eat their web and thus recycle it if they want.
- StudentWhat body parts are inside a spider's cephalothorax versus the abdomen?
Bugscope Teamthe head and the thorax are fused into a cephalothorax; the legs are attached to the cephalothorax, as is the abdomen
Bugscope Teaminternally, the cephalothorax houses the leg muscles, the phyrangeal muscle which acts as a pump that the spider uses to suck out juices from its prey, the brain, and sometimes the venom glands. the abdomen contains most of the other internal organs such as the stomach and rest of the digestive system, the book lungs, the dorsal heart, the silk organs, the ovaries/testes, etc.
- Bugscope TeamMale spiders sometimes push a wad of web onto the chelicers of the female, right in the middle, so they cannot open the chelicers and use their fangs to bite.
Bugscope Teamwe found a female with the web stuck between her chelicers in a Bugscope session a few years ago
- Bugscope Teamusually some part of the what we are seeing now are called cerci
- 7:33 pm
- StudentHey there - Dr. Korb here again - we are going to log off in a few minutes. Any last thoughts?
Bugscope Teamthank you for connecting and having such good questions. I am really happy to have Josh here to give you the best answers.
- StudentThis is a chatty group!
Bugscope Teamawesome for us
- StudentWhat is the function of these 2 long parts?
Bugscope Teamprimarily sensory. Cockroaches for example can use them to sense air currents caused by an approaching foot, and reflexively run out of the way. Thats why crushing them can be so difficult. for the most part they are probably a vestigial pair of abdominal legs that has been adapted for another function in some arthropods but completely lost in others
- StudentThanks to Josh!!!
Bugscope TeamDefinitely.
- Bugscope TeamI do what I can guys :)
- Bugscope TeamHappy to help out.
- Bugscope TeamThank you, everyone!
- GuestThank you!
- 7:39 pm
- Bugscope TeamSee you! I'm shutting down and hitting the street. Thank you again!
