Connected on 2015-05-08 12:00:00
from Contra Costa County, California, United States
- 11:17 am
- Bugscope Teampumping down the sample now
- Bugscope Teamsetting up presets
- 11:25 am
- 11:31 am
- 11:37 am
- 11:42 am
- 11:48 am
- 11:54 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready!
- Bugscope TeamSuper 2nd Grade Yay!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- TeacherWhat are we looking at?
Bugscope Teamthis is a trapjaw ant
- Bugscope Teamits jaws are closed right now
- 11:59 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can choose from any of the presets on the lefthand screen, if you would like
- Bugscope Teamthey eat other insects and sweet things
- TeacherDo you know what it eats?
Bugscope TeamThey are said to be carnivorous. I believe they mostly eat other insects. Some species specialize in eating springtails.
- Bugscope Teamthis is close up on part of the moth's wing
- Bugscope Teamwe're looking at the scales, which are the tiny flakes that come off of a moth or butterfly's wings when you rub them
- TeacherWhat are the stripes on it?
Bugscope Teamthose are ridges that, in part, stabilize the scale -- the same way the ridges in Ruffles potato chips make the potato chips stronger
- Bugscope Teamthe powder when you touch their wings are these scales
- Bugscope Teamthe ridges also, however, refract light of different colors
- 12:04 pm
- TeacherHow many scales can be on one moth wing?
Bugscope TeamThousands. I am not sure.
- Bugscope Teamthey can lose some in order to get out of a spider web
Bugscope Teamyes because the scales come off easily, when the moth flies into a spiderweb it can leave its scales and get away, sometimes
- TeacherCool!!
- Bugscope Teamthis is an odd beetle Cate found that also has scales
- Teacherwhere are its eyes?
- TeacherIs this the head?
Bugscope Teamyes it is! it is kind of hard to see, isn't it? the things that look like submarine sandwiches are its antennae
- Bugscope Teamif it has any, it might be hidden by its antennae
- Teacherthis looks like a strawberry
Bugscope Teamyes it does
- Bugscope Teamyeah we do not see the eyes either. they could be on the back of the head where we cannot see right now
- TeacherThe beetle might not have eyes? How does it know where it's going??
Bugscope Teamif it spends a lot of time underground, it might just rely on sense of touch and chemical senses (like smell/taste)
Bugscope Teamthe setae, or hairs, can be used for either
- 12:10 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe fruitfly has little setae that stick up between some of the facets of the compound eye
- Bugscope Teamwe can see one now
- Bugscope Teamthe setae are said to be capable of sensing wind
- Bugscope Teamso they are mechanosensory; when they bend a little, that bending goes to the fruitfly's brain and lets it know
- Teacherwhy do they need to know when it is windy?
Bugscope Teamthey can be more efficient flyers
Bugscope Teammany flying insects will have some type of setae on their eyes
- TeacherWhat are the eyes made of? Are they furry?
Bugscope Teamthey are made of chitin, like the rest of the exoskeleton; it is kind of like what our fingernails are made of
Bugscope Teamor like a shrimp shell
- Teacherdo they gunk in their eyes?
Bugscope Teamyes they do, sometimes; they can wipe it off
- 12:16 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe think that in life the little ridges would not be there, on the ommatidia (the eye facets), but the eyes are dry and a bit shriveled
- TeacherSorry for all the switching!
- Bugscope Teamfruitfly!
- Bugscope Teamon the back of the fruitfly's head we see those little dome-like things. they are ocelli, which are the simple eyes
- Bugscope Teamwe can tell they are male mosquitos because their antennae are so frilly
- Bugscope Teamfemales, the one that bite, are much more plain
- 12:21 pm
- TeacherWhat are all the hairy looking things?
Bugscope Teamthe little hair-like things are part of the antennae
Bugscope Teamthey help transmit the sound of the female mosquitoes' wings to the male
- TeacherThese look like leaves on a tree!
- Bugscope Teamor ruffles potato chips
- Bugscope Teamwe can see the mosquitoes are like moths, butterflies, and silverfish because they have all of those tiny little scales
- Teacherwhat are we looking at?
Bugscope Teamthose are the scales on the mosquito
- Bugscope Teammosquitoes, like those other flying insects and silverfish, are protected from spiders, somewhat, by having scales
- Bugscope Teamthe wings are kind of frilly too!
- TeacherWhat are the round parts that the antennae are connected to?
- Bugscope Teamthe round things are called pedicels. they are the bases of the antennae
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny round things are the eye facets
- Bugscope Teamthis is a rolypoly, or pillbug
- 12:26 pm
- Bugscope Teamit has seven pairs of legs
- TeacherHow many eyes to pillbugs have?
Bugscope Teamthey have two compound eyes, but each eye only has ten or so facets
- TeacherBut we thought insects have 6 legs...
Bugscope Teampillbugs, rolypoly's are crustaceans. like crabs
Bugscope Teamthey are like land crabs; they even have gills, but we are not sure what they look like. the gills are supposed to be visible near the legs that are closest to the tail
- Bugscope Teampillbugs are also called isopods. iso- means 'the same,' and -pod means 'foot.'
- TeacherCan they see backwards with their compound eyes?
Bugscope Teamthey can see things that are above them and in front of them, but we are looking at them from the underside, and they cannot likely see beneath them very well
- 12:31 pm
- TeacherIs that long thing the tongue?
Bugscope Teamyes that is the proboscis. it can fill it with blood to unfirl it like one of those new years noise makers
Bugscope Teamunfurl
- Bugscope Teamthey keep their tongues coiled up like that when they are not using them
- Bugscope Teamthe eye is dirty, sorry
- TeacherHe needs to take a bath! Can it clean its eyes?
Bugscope Teamthis probably happened after he died. we can see mold growing on his eyes
Bugscope Teamotherwise they can wipe their eyes of with their legs
Bugscope Team'off'
- 12:37 pm
- Bugscope Teamclaw!
- TeacherIs this what they use to "sting"?
Bugscope Teamthese are like little hands
Bugscope Teamthe claws can pinch but not sting
- TeacherWhy is it so hairy?
Bugscope Teama lot of the hairs are used for sense of touch- to let it know when it is touching something, or feedback that it is grabbing something
- Bugscope Teamthey dont have sensitive skin like we do
- TeacherDo they pinch people? Does it hurt?
Bugscope Teami like they are small enough that if they grabbed you with it, it wouldn't hurt
- Bugscope Teamthe little furry pad in the middle is covered with tiny setae that are sticky, so the wasp can climb on vertical surfaces
Bugscope Teamthe pad is called a pulvillus
- Bugscope Teambeetle face
- 12:42 pm
- Bugscope Teamsee the facets of of its compound eyes?
- Bugscope Teamto the left and right...
- TeacherHow old is this beetle?
Bugscope Teamprobably a few months
- TeacherWhat is that hole???
Bugscope Teamit was part of an entomologist's collection. there wsa a pin going through it
- Bugscope Teamit has three pairs of legs
- TeacherWhat is the beetle's diet?
Bugscope Teamit depends on the beetle, but many of them are opportunistic and will eat whatever they can that is edible
- Bugscope Teamwhen we look at some beetles' limbs, like this, we see that this one, for example, may not be able to climb very well
- 12:48 pm
- TeacherThis looks like the wasp claw. Can the beetle climb up a wall like the wasp?
Bugscope Teamsee that it does not have that pad between its claws? if it does not have pads further up its arm, it may not be a climber
Bugscope Teamvery good question!
Bugscope Teamsometimes the pad is covered with tiny setae, and called a pulvillus; sometimes it is kind of bulbous and may be inflated to swell into a gap so the insect can hold onto a surface that way
- TeacherIs a scorpion an insect?
Bugscope Teamno they are arachnids- related to spiders
- Bugscope Teamthis is not a real scorpion, but it is also an arachnid
- TeacherIs this the mouth?
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- Bugscope Teamwe can see its mandibles, to the outside, to the left
- Bugscope Teamthey could also grab on with their big pincher claws
- TeacherWhat are the things that look like combs?
Bugscope Teamwe think that they help filter their food
- 12:54 pm
- TeacherAre all the bugs dead?
Bugscope Teamyes; if they were alive it would be cruel to coat them with gold-palladium and put them into a vacuum chamber like this.
- Bugscope Teamthese pseudoscorpions like to eat mites
Bugscope Teamlike tiny snacks
- TeacherWe are going to try to see the tail part.
- TeacherWe thought maybe the tail fell off!
- Teacheris the tail poisonous?
Bugscope Teamif it was a scorpion it would have venom in its stinger, at the tip of its tail
- Bugscope Teamhere is something the pseudoscorpion likes to eat
- Bugscope Teamthis is a mite that feeds on plants
- Teacherlike an aphid?
Bugscope Teamsmaller than an aphid, but they live in the same place, sometimes
- Bugscope Teamgood job driving!
- 12:59 pm
- TeacherWe know we only have 4 minutes left....whats the most important thing we need to know about this mite?
Bugscope Teamthey can be found on the undersides of leaves, and often there is not a lot of information available about mites, but we are happy to be able to see them
- TeacherThank you so much for all the information!!
- Bugscope Teamthanks for the great questiond
- Bugscope Teamquestions
- Bugscope TeamThank you for connecting with us today!
- TeacherHave a nice day! :)
- Bugscope Teamyou as well
