Connected on 2015-05-05 12:00:00
from Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States
- 11:12 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down...
- 11:22 am
- 11:29 am
- Bugscope TeamGood Morning, Jones. welcome to Bugscope!
- 11:36 am
- 11:42 am
- Bugscope Teamhi miss sands' class
- Guesthello!
- Bugscope Teamwe are setting up presets right now
- 11:48 am
- 11:53 am
- TeacherMrs. Fleury's class is here !
- TeacherMrs. Wipper's class is here!
- Bugscope Teami are just going to grab a couple more presets quickly
- 11:58 am
- GuestMrs. Gleva's class is here!
- Bugscope Teamyou have control Mrs. Fleury
- Bugscope Teamwe can give control to someone else if you like
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- TeacherWe are going to look at the pillbug first aka rolliepollie
- Bugscope Teamthis is a roly poly, or pillbug
- Bugscope Teamthey are actually crustaceans
- Bugscope Teamthat live on the land
- Bugscope Teamthey are also called isopods because all of their little feet are the same shape. iso- means 'the same.'
- Bugscope Teamand pod means 'foot'
- Bugscope Teamthese are little spines on the rolypoly's leg
- 12:03 pm
- Bugscope Teamspines like this are often sensory; they help the pillbug sense its surroundings when they are touched. they might also be used for self-sending, so the pillbug can tell when its little leg is extended, for example
- Bugscope Teamplease be sure to let us know when you have questions
- Guestwhy is it called a pill bug?
Bugscope Teamthey are called pill bugs because they roll up into a little ball, or pill, when they feel threatened
- Bugscope Teamthis is the pill bug
- Bugscope Team's mouth!
- Bugscope Teamat the top we can see its mandibles, or jaws, which open left and right, not like our jaws
- TeacherWhat do pill bugs eat?
Bugscope TeamI believe they eat decaying plant matter
- Bugscope Teamyes they eat decaying plant matter, decaying animal matter, and sometimes live plants
- GuestDo they have eyes?
Bugscope Teamyes they do. they are small and a bit hard to find from beneath like this
- 12:09 pm
- TeacherDoes anyone else want to see another part of the pill bug or are you ready to move on?
- Bugscope Teamthey have seven pairs of legs
- Teacherready to move on
- GuestHow big do they get?
Bugscope Teamwe have seen them only about a centimeter long; the kind that live in the oceans can get quite large
- Bugscope Teamthis onw is a few centimeters big
- Bugscope Teamone*
- Bugscope Teamthe ocean ones get to be a like a basketball, i think
- Bugscope Teamtheir exoskeletons are made of chitin, which is similar to the keratin in our fingernails.
- GuestHow hard are their shells?
Bugscope TeamI think kind of like a fingernail, but thinner and thus a bit softer
- GuestWe wanted to know what animals eat pillbugs
Bugscope TeamI looked it up, and where I looked said "vertebrates and invertebrates," not very helpful
Bugscope Teamthey are probably snacks for mice and rats and other small animals
- Bugscope Teamthis is a wasp, and toward the bottom of the screen we can see one of its antenna combs
- Bugscope Teamthat is, the forelimb is shaped so that it will fit over an antenna and scrape it (gently) clean
- Bugscope Teamright in the middle now
- Bugscope Teamlooks like a spike coming out of its arm , and there is a curved part of the arm just above it
- 12:15 pm
- Bugscope Teamon the back of the wasp's head, to the right, we see little bumps that are the ocelli -- the simple eyes
- Bugscope Teamits antennae bend toward the left and down
- Bugscope Teamthe wasp is lying a doublestick carbon tape
- Bugscope Team'on' doublestick carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the compound eye, which has a few thousand ommatidia, or individual facets
- TeacherWhat are simple eyes vs compound eyes?
Bugscope Teamcompound eyes have many facets like you see here. simple eyes don't see as well, and you find them on larvae or spiders
- GuestHow long can a wasp live?
Bugscope Teamusually a few months
- GuestHello! We're wondering how far a wasp flies away from his nest?
Bugscope Teamthey can fly from 300-1000 yards from their nest
Bugscope Teamwhich is half a mile
- GuestWhat do they eat?
Bugscope Teamsome of them like sticky, sweet stuff, like fruit; some like nectar from flowers; and some also eat decaying flesh from dead animals
- 12:20 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the ocelli, in front; we can see the other two, but not as well
- GuestDo they have hair?
Bugscope Teamthe things that look like hair we are supposed to call 'setae,' but even the entomologists often call them hair.
Bugscope Teamthe setae are often sensory. different ones can sense touch, wind, chemical odors, hot/cold
- GuestWhere is this wasp from?
Bugscope TeamI am not sure; Cate may know.
- GuestCan we see the stinger?
Bugscope Teamyes there is a preset for the stinger of one of the wasps today
- GuestWhat do they use their claws for?
Bugscope Teamthey use their claws in much the same way we use our hands, except I guess they don't type or write much; but they can grasp things and climb, for example
- GuestHow many eggs can a wasp typically lay?
Bugscope Teamit really varies. many species of small wasps are parasitic wasps, and they lay one or more eggs inside insects they have stung and paralyzed
- 12:25 pm
- GuestDo they have ears?
Bugscope Teamnot like we do. there are some that have an organ that can result in hearing.
- TeacherWhen a wasp stings you, does it lose it's stinger?
Bugscope Teamno; they can often sting repeatedly. when a honeybee stings you and loses its stinger, it is because your skin (mammalian skin) is thick, and the barbs on the stinger get caught in it
Bugscope Teamthat is, honeybees can sting other insects repeatedly, but when they sting mammals they lose their stingers, and they die then because the stinger fell out and they will thus bleed to death
- Bugscope Teamstingers sometimes have two sharp parts that slide, side by side, to cut into their prey
- Bugscope Teamstingers are also used as ovipositors in some species of insects, like wasps. an ovipositor is an egg-depositor
- GuestWhat kind of a spider is this?
Bugscope TeamIt is so tiny; I don't think we know. It is a baby flat spider.
- 12:30 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe aren't very good at identifying spiders, unless they have those telltale markings, like black widow and brown recluse
- Bugscope Teamwe can see from the scalebar that the spider is only a few millimeters long
- Bugscope Teamits abdomen is to the right, and usually at its terminal end we see the spinnerettes, but not today
- GuestWhat is the large, round part on the back?
Bugscope Teamthat is called the abdomen; it is soft compared to the head and thorax, which are fused into what is called a cephalothorax
- Bugscope Teamhere we can see the eyes
- Bugscope Teamnow we see two palps, or pedipalps; this seems to be a female, with small palps
- GuestWhere does the word spider come from?
Bugscope Teamthat is a very good question!
Bugscope Teamit comes from the old english version of spin
- 12:35 pm
- Bugscope Teamif spiders get hungry, they can eat their web, which is made of protein, to help them live a little longer
- Guestdo spiders eat insects or just drink their blood?
Bugscope Teamthey inject their venom, which dissolves the insects' internal organs, and then they suck it all up like a milkshake. so it is not all just the blood, which is called hemolymph
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a moth
- Bugscope Teamit has lost its antennae, but in the front of its head we can see its proboscis, which is still coiled up
- GuestHow much web can a spider have inside?
Bugscope Teamit comes to a certain percentage of the size of the abdomen, but I am not really sure
Bugscope Teamone answer is that the spider has at least enough web inside it to make a web at least twenty times its size
- Bugscope Teamthe proboscis is like a long straw
- 12:41 pm
- GuestWhat are the things that look like hair?
Bugscope Teammany of those are scales, which are actually modified setae, what we think looks like hair
Bugscope Teamone thing the scales do (we see them most commonly on butterfly and moth wings) is protect the insect that bears them from getting caught in a spider's web
- GuestWhat kinds of animals eat moths?
Bugscope Teamflying animals like bats, and ground animals like rats and mice
- TeacherIs that the moth's mouth right behind the proboscis?
Bugscope TeamI think we can say that it is, but the moth usually sucks its food up as a liquid, through the proboscis
- Bugscope Teamspiders and birds also eat moths
- TeacherWhat is on the moth's eyes?
Bugscope Teamthey are some loose scales
- GuestWhat do moths eat?
Bugscope Teammost adult moths do not eat at all, but some of them drink nectar, like that from flowers
- TeacherDo moths shed their skin?
Bugscope Teamonce they become adults and have wings, that is it; they do not molt after that
- TeacherDo they follow the same lifecycle as a butterfly?
Bugscope Teamyes they have caterpillars and cocoon stages before they are adults
- 12:47 pm
- GuestDo moths have strong wings?
Bugscope Teamwe would say that it varies, because there are many types of moths, but yes I think in general they have strong wings
- Bugscope Teamvery recently, someone showed that moths, when they take off from a sitting or standing position, use their legs to propel them forward before moving their wings.
Bugscope Teamso they jump to help them get started flying
- GuestHow do they breathe?
Bugscope Teamthere are spiracles along their body that look like portholes. these spiracles are connected to a trachea that runs through their body
- Bugscope Teaminsects can open and close their spiracles
- Bugscope Teama majority of the female ants are wingless
- GuestWhat color is ant's blood?
Bugscope Teamusually the entomologists tell us that it is clear, or colorless. when you squish an insect you often see what looks like yellow fluid, but that is the blood plus the contents of their abdomen, for example
Bugscope Teamthe blood is called hemolymph
- Bugscope Teammost ants you come across are female
- 12:52 pm
- GuestDo ants have good eye sight?
- GuestHow can you tell the difference between female and male ants?
Bugscope Teamyes when you find ants with wings, those are often males, unless you have found a queen ant, which can have wings for a while
Bugscope Teamthe males will have wings, and apprently, their antennae are longer
Bugscope Teamapparently*
Bugscope Teamtheir antennae have chemoreceptors that help them find the queen ant while they are flying
Bugscope Teamchemoreceptors can sense smells in the air -- such smells as pheromones, which for example females may produce, like perfume, to attract males
- TeacherWhat is the lifecycle of an ant?
- 12:57 pm
- TeacherWhy is it itchy after we receive an ant bite?
Bugscope Teamants may sting more than they bite, and some of them will produce formic acid, which feels like a tiny burn
Bugscope TeamI think the itching comes from your body's response to the bite or sting. Like a histamine response
Bugscope Teamhistamines are part of what your body produces in the immune response to a bite or scratch or sting, or sometimes something you ate
- Bugscope Teamthis is a surprise -- finding the tiny mites living on the wasp
Bugscope Teamwe have never seen mites like this before --- not that I remember
- Guestwhat is a mite?
Bugscope Teammites are tiny 'bugs' that are often arachnids of some sort, like related to spiders
Bugscope Teamthis actually appears to have only six legs, but juvenile mites, like juvenile ticks, may have six legs\
- 1:03 pm
- GuestThank you for answering our questions! We learned a lot!
- TeacherWhy would a mite live on another bug? How big is this mite?
Bugscope Teamwe can see that is it about 200 microns, or micrometers, long. that is two tenths of a millimeter
Bugscope Teamwe find that in the insect/arthropod world there is always at least one species that will take advantage of any chance to profit, by eating and breeding at the expense of something else
- GuestThanks so much from our class! We really enjoyed this!
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Everyone!
- Bugscope Teamthank you for your great questions
- TeacherWe appreciate this opportunity! Thank you for helping us learn more about insects today.
- Bugscope TeamWhen we talk with the parasitoid wasp people, they tell us that there is not only a parasitic wasp for each insect, but a parasitic wasp for each life stage of each insect
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
