Connected on 2020-12-11 11:00:00
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- 10:18 am
- Bugscope Teamsetting up presets now
- Bugscope TeamLooks good!
- 10:24 am
- 10:29 am
- 10:34 am
- 10:43 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are all set to go
- 10:49 am
- 10:56 am
- Bugscope Teamhi there!
- Bugscope TeamHi Karen! Welcome to Bugscope!
- TeacherThank you so much I will invite my students in
- Bugscope TeamGood morning!
- Bugscope TeamYou can see you have insect/arthropod choices on the left; to the right is the list of participants.
- TeacherWe are so excited. They are coming in in 2 min
- TeacherOh I see them GOT IT
- Bugscope TeamIf you click on one of the presets, on the left, the microscope will move to that position on the stub.
- Bugscope TeamYou will also be able to control the microscope using the controls we see at the bottom of the center screen.
- Bugscope TeamThere will likely be a lag once you click on something.
- 11:01 am
- TeacherWE ARE ALL HERE NOW
Bugscope TeamTotally cool.
- TeacherGOT IT
- Bugscope TeamWe're looking at a true bug right now -- a hemipteran.
- Bugscope TeamRelated to stinkbugs and bedbugs, for example.
- TeacherSO cool
- Bugscope TeamYou can see its compound eyes, its antennae, part of the forelegs, and its proboscis, which extends beyond the frame of the image right now
- Bugscope TeamPlease for sure let us know when you have questions\
- Bugscope TeamTotally cool.
- TeacherOkay
- Bugscope TeamScales are kind of like feathers on a bird's wing.
- TeacherThe students want to know what this is
- 11:07 am
- Bugscope TeamInsects with scales have a bit of protection against spider webs; if they fly into the web they may be able to slip away, leaving the scales stuck there.
- TeacherNow we are looking at bacteria
- Bugscope TeamBacteria are usually about 2 microns (micrometers) long. A micrometer is a thousandth of a millimeter and a millionth of a meter.
- TeacherThe students learned about symbiosis
- Bugscope TeamWe often see bacteria on the exoskeleton of the tick, and we know that if ticks swell up and break open they can actually repair the tear and survive.
- Bugscope Teamhard to tell what we are looking at here -- maybe a mite
- TeacherSuper cool we are excitedd
- 11:12 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can move your mouse to the left there and click to center the view
- Bugscope Teamin the meantime we can see a tiny pollen grain to the right, between the legs that are sticking up.
- Bugscope Teama tick!
- TeacherThank you
- Bugscope Teami accidentally got some pollen grains on it too
- Bugscope Teamthis is an adult tick -- we can tell because it has eight legs. when they are young they have six legs. \
- Bugscope Teamthe head of the tick is called the capitulum
- TeacherWOW
- Bugscope Teamthere are palps on either side that fold down when the tick sticks the center of the head, called the hypostome, into your skin
- TeacherThis is too wonderful we are. loving it
- TeacherWhen a tick bites is it using it's claw or mouth
Bugscope Teamwith it's mouth
Bugscope Teamits*
- 11:17 am
- Bugscope Teamtotally cool -- the little hands have hooks on them, and I believe that the pad we see can swell up to help the tick secure its grip within a small crevice
- TeacherWOW
- TeacherWe are enjoying this so much
Bugscope Teamthat's awesome
- Bugscope TeamLooks like he has a mowhawk!
- Bugscope Teamthe hypostome sticks into your skin; it has recurved spines on one side that help it hold itself there. On the other side is a kind of sandpapery part that helps release blood
- Bugscope TeamSee the compound eyes on either side of the bee's head?\
- TeacherYES YES what great information
- Bugscope Teamthere are thousands of ommatidia -- little individual lenses -- that make up a single compound eye
- 11:23 am
- TeacherDoes the honeybee have parasites as well
Bugscope TeamThey do, or can. Sometimes they have varroa mites, which are fairly large, and bad for bees.
- TeacherWOW
- Bugscope Teamso we see lots of tiny hairs... they're called setae, and most of them are sensory
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool.
- Bugscope Teamthey stick to things like burrs
- Bugscope Teambeneath the pollen grains we see the doublestick carbon tape that all of the samples are attached to
- TeacherSuper cool
- Bugscope Teamwagweed pollen looks like this. Not sure what type these are
Bugscope Teamragweed*
- TeacherOH
- 11:28 am
- TeacherWhat is placoid sensilla
Bugscope Teamthey help the bee sense different chemicals and maybe heat
- Bugscope TeamPlacoid means "plate-like." They're sensory plates among all of the setae, which are also sensory in a presumable different way.
- TeacherThank you
- Bugscope TeamInsects and arthropods like them have an exoskeleton, like a crab or lobster, that is kind of like if you were wearing armor. So there are different kinds of 'hairs' (setae) that stick through the armor (the exoskeleton) and allow the insect/arthropod to sense its surroundings.
- TeacherWhere do you get your bugs from?
Bugscope Teamfrom different entomologists that work with us mostly. Some schools also send extras.
- Bugscope Teamoccasionally we will find and pick them up ourselves
- TeacherLoving it
- Bugscope TeamYou can tell the difference between male and female flies by how far apart their compound eyes are.
- 11:33 am
- Bugscope TeamFemale fly eyes are often far apart, and those of males are close together -- like the difference between Uma Thurman and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
- TeacherFUNNY
- Bugscope TeamMosquito missing most of its legs and its antennae, but we can see its compound eyes and its proboscis.
- Bugscope TeamIf we look at the head, we can see little donut-like things that are called pedicels -- they're the bases of the antennae, which are broken off.
- Bugscope TeamSometimes we can see the biting mouthparts of the female mosquito (the males do not bite).
- TeacherWOW how exciting
- TeacherWe are having great conversations
- TeacherDo only females bite (mosquitos)
Bugscope Teamyes only females will bite to get the energy to lay her eggs
- 11:38 am
- Bugscope TeamWe were hoping to see those here, but the biting mouthparts are inside of the proboscis and we cannot even see the tip.
- Bugscope TeamLeafhoppers are super cute.
- TeacherYES WE agree they are thinking Star Wars
- Bugscope TeamClone Wars!
- Bugscope TeamThey have tiny little pellets on their exoskeleton that are called brochosomes.
- Bugscope TeamThere is a selection of brochosomes in one of the preset images Cate made for us this morning.
- TeacherAnother Mosquito question: What do the males eat if not blood
Bugscope Teamthey may not eat at all or sometimes they may eat plant sap
- 11:43 am
- TeacherLeafhoppers what do they do what is their purpose?
Bugscope Teamthey will be mostly a food source for other insects or animals. They may help pollinate a bit too
Bugscope TeamLeafhoppers mainly are herbivores, but some are known to eat smaller insects, such as aphids, on occasion.
- TeacherStudents love to collect these
- TeacherWhat appendages do they use to roll up into a ball
Bugscope TeamIt must be an internal muscle that allows them to do that. Good question, and I am not sure.
- TeacherWe know pill bugs are composting bugs. What else do they do
- Bugscope Teamthey actually have gills, but i never know where to look to find them
- Bugscope TeamRolypolies are called isopods, as in iso -- meaning 'the same' abd pod -- meaning 'foot.'
- 11:49 am
- Bugscope Teamthey are crustaceans (pillbugs are) and so they are closer related to lobsters and crabs
- TeacherThank Cate
- Bugscope Teamah this is cool -- ants have built-in combs on their forelimbs that allow them to clean their anttennae.
- TeacherThank you Scot
- Bugscope TeamWe can see the slots that the antennae are pulled through,
- TeacherWhat part of the ant is this
- Bugscope Teamthis is on one of the forelegs, at a joint
- TeacherGot it
- Bugscope TeamNow we can see one of its claws, at the end of the foreleg (to the left).
- Bugscope TeamEvery so often the New York Times features video images of trapjaw ants like this snapping their jaws super quickly. Most of the images were collected here in our building, in the Vis Lab Studio, where we have a 2 million frame per second video camera.
- 11:54 am
- TeacherWOW WOW
- Teacherskin
- TeacherHow far into the body does the stinger go and does it come back out
Bugscope Teamnot sure how far. But, this bee stinger doesn't have barbs like a honeybee would, so it would presumably come back out
- TeacherIs this puncturing the sking
Bugscope Teamthis is the part of the bee that would sting you in your skin yes
Bugscope TeamIt can puncture the skin, yes. When honeybees sting people the whole stinger apparatus gets caught in our mammalian skin, and the bee cannot get it out. The stinger gets pulled out of the bee, and the bee bleeds out from the hole where the stinger once was.
- TeacherThank you
- Bugscope TeamTrap jaws
- Bugscope TeamTrapjaw ants can snap their jaws together extremely quickly. It helps them capture their prey, which are sometimes Springtails.
- Bugscope TeamSweet.
- 11:59 am
- TeacherThank you so much we really enjoyed this. We are thinking many of us will go Biology
Bugscope TeamThat's awesome!
- Bugscope Teamthat's awesome to hear about going into biology!
- TeacherWhat are Springtails
Bugscope TeamCollembola. If I remember right, they are hexapods, which have six legs but are technically not insects.
- TeacherThank you so much for this experience.
- Bugscope TeamThank you! This is super fun for us.
- TeacherThank you Cate, Scot and Teppie
- TeacherWe are so grateful!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Bugscope TeamYay! See you next year, maybe? Thank you
