Connected on 2009-06-05 08:00:00 from , NY, US
- 7:24am
- Bugscope Team starting vac
- Bugscope Team starting presets
- 7:30am
- 7:35am
- 7:44am
- 7:51am
- Teacher hello - this is gigi I will be leading the discussion today - can you remind me how to log the kids in-is it under guest or admin
- Bugscope Team hello Teacher, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Team kids should login as students
- Bugscope Team good morning!
- Bugscope Team when they visit the website, the student option should be available. if not, then login as guests
- Bugscope Team the student option is only available AFTER the teacher logins, and only if the students are coming from the same subnet as the teacher
- Teacher ok-i am going to start logging them in now -they will be arriving at 9:05 - we will start with the ant - many many thanks!
- Bugscope Team cool
- Teacher the student option is not available - and when I log them in as guests it does not allow them to put in a nickname
- Bugscope Team hmm
- Bugscope Team login as guest first, then it should ask for a name, does it not do that?
- Teacher can i log them in as admin but keep me as teacher in control
- Bugscope Team no, only we can be admins, guest should work, if not i can fix it
- Bugscope Team yah, it's working!
- Teacher ok-think i fixed it
- Bugscope Team yay, i mean.
- Bugscope Team good job!
- 7:56am
- Bugscope Team i see we have lots of insects in the session today!
- 8:04am
- Bugscope Team Alright!
- Bugscope Team We are ready to roll.
- Bugscope Team Please let us know when you have questions.
- Bugscope Team Good morning everyone. Enjoy your session.
- 8:10am
- Bugscope Team hi umesh!
- Teacher can we see the ant head
- Bugscope Team good morning, Umesh!
- Bugscope Team please click on that preset and you will go there
- Bugscope Team you can click on any of the presets to jump there
- Bugscope Team there are three ants, and I think we made a preset of each one's heade
- Bugscope Team the ant head is preset #11
- Bugscope Team head
- Bugscope Team let us know if you need help driving
- Bugscope Team the presets should be running alongside this chat box, to the right, and you should be able to scroll through them as well as select any one, and the 'scope will drive you to that place on the stub.
- Bugscope Team here you can see the edge of the proboscis of the weevil, along the right side of the image
- Bugscope Team it is super long, really cool
- Teacher i am clicking on number 11 the ant but can't see it
- Bugscope Team do you see an image at all?
- Teacher under the preset I do but not on the big screen
- Bugscope Team hold on, fixing a problem
- 8:16am
- Bugscope Team wow we are sorry -- the connection to the 'scope, for that kind of control, is lost just now
- Bugscope Team we are working on it
- Bugscope Team ok, looks like cate figured it out, it's the one preset #11 that is bad, all others seem to work, we are remaking the ant head preset now
- Bugscope Team ok, this is an any head, preset #18
- Bugscope Team scope should be working now
- Bugscope Team sorry for the trouble
- Guest wassup
- Bugscope Team can you try controlling the scope now, and see if it works okay?
- Guest ant
- Bugscope Team hi cockroach, welcome to bugscope
- Bugscope Team yes, this is an ant head
- Bugscope Team Mrs C please try another preset, see if you can control the 'scope again
- Guest what coler is there blod
Bugscope Team the blood, which is called 'hemolymph,' is usually clear but sometimes picks up other colors from the organs that might be crushed with it
Bugscope Team Insect blood is usually clear, but sometimes it can be different colors. For instance, tobacco hornworms have green blood.
- Bugscope Team this ant has fairly complex compound eyes, and it would be interesting to see what is going on with the one on the right
- 8:21am
- Bugscope Team cool, looks like it' working! good.
- Guest how long is their inteinnas
Bugscope Team antennae vary in length, but on a large ant they can be more than a millimeter long
- Bugscope Team this is a closeup of a compound eye
- Guest how old can an ant live
Bugscope Team That depends on the caste! Worker and soldier ants don't live very long, but queens can live for many years.
- Bugscope Team compound eyes have hundreds of these individual bumps, called ommatidia, each one has a lens in it
- Guest how old
- Guest how many eyes do they have
Bugscope Team well, ants usually have two compound eyes, but not always. some ants don't have eyes, they get around by using their setae (hairs) and sensing smells and such
- Guest how
- Bugscope Team here is a spiracle, which is a breathing hole for insects
- Guest your pretty sick
- Bugscope Team kind of like a nose that doesnt smell things
- Bugscope Team it even has "nose hairs" as you can see
- Guest what are all of the strings
Bugscope Team those are hairs, called setae. setae help insects to sense their environment
- Guest why are ants heads so small
- Guest do insects have tails
Bugscope Team they have what look like tails, but often what we see is an ovipositor, for example
- Student What color are the spiracles
- Guest how many eyes do bees have
- Guest how many spiracles does it have
- Bugscope Team and the spiracles arent found on the insect's head, but on the body
- Guest 7
- Guest how big is a crickets spiracles?
Bugscope Team fly you can see the micron bar to the lower left in the image
Bugscope Team they are very small, too small to see with your naked eye
Bugscope Team so it looks like the spiracles are maybe 300 microns in length
- Guest how old do they have to be to die
- Guest do biterflis have a strings
- Bugscope Team you can see 3 on this side of the abdomen, there are also 3 on the other side of the abdomen, they come in pairs
- Guest what is a spirical
Bugscope Team it's the airway insects use to breath through.
- Guest how old can a bee get
Bugscope Team Like ants, it again is based on the caste. Workers live for a few months, but queens will live for a year or more. Drones, the male bees, die almost as soon as they leave the nest.
- Guest how many eyes do flies have
Bugscope Team fly eyes are very advanced, because flys need good vision to fly around so well
- Guest how many compound eyes do crickets have?
Bugscope Team two, usually
- Guest why do they have such long antennaes
Bugscope Team antennae are very important to insects in communicating with the world, in obtaining information. ants use them much more than they use their eyes. sometimes the length of the antennae helps them maneuver it to smell things using the tiny sensory structures built into it
- Student read
- Guest how big are they
- Guest what do they do in a day
- Guest 2 coumpound eyes
- Guest how long can a cockroach live
- 8:26am
- Guest hi
- Guest how old can a criket get
Bugscope Team Crickets only live a few weeks. The crickets hatch from eggs laid in the ground in the spring or early summer, and are adults within about 3 months. They breed and then lay their eggs in late summer. They then die of old age or will freeze if the temperature lowers to 32 degrees. Incidently the the higher the temperature gets the more a cricket chirps.
- Guest hey dragonnfly
- Student yo
- Student How long can a yellowjacket live?
- Guest yo to you to
- Guest are the lines dented in or sticking
- Guest tyuuytygtygygtrrtedyrfdtghygfyf
- Guest r cockroaches venomous
- Guest whos fly??
- Guest yo people
- Guest WOW!!!!
- Guest fgdafasdffasedfasdfsdafwasdfwergwe
- Student how long can ants get?
Bugscope Team The biggest ants - like bullet ants in the tropics - can be well over an inch.
- Guest hi
- Guest wo wo wow wo
- Guest how old can a misquito get?
- Guest wow
- Guest la
- Guest fly is payton
- Student boo
- Student How big are cricket's legs
- Guest who is waterbug
- Guest do u have a girlfriend
- Guest how big are butterflies wings
- Guest Hannah and Amber
- Guest water bugs live in water and they arent affraid of humans
- Guest no
- Student poop
- Guest do you have a boy freind
- Guest who askedwho is fly?
- Guest booooo!
- Guest why do crickets chirp
Bugscope Team i think it's used to communicate between crickets, for mating and such. they rub their legs to make the sound
- Student Does a yellow jacket die after it stings?
Bugscope Team a yellow jacket can sting repeatedly, so you have to be more careful around them
Bugscope Team Not unless you crush it. The honeybee is the insect that will die after it stings, because the stinger is barbed and gets stuck in the skin.
- Guest grasshopper is jillian
- Guest why do they have there eyes to the side
- Guest do spiders have deadly bites
- Student do ants eat
Bugscope Team yes, most species of ants are attracted to sweet things
- Guest how long can a stinkbug live
- Guest how many hairs do ants have
- Guest what are those bumps
- Guest what is this
- Guest what is the coolest fly in ur opinion
- Guest how long are butterflies wings
- Guest groooooooose
- Guest are misquitos milions of years old?
Bugscope Team well, the order of insects is very old, yes, but a single mosquito doesn't live that long
- Guest what color is your blood?
Bugscope Team red by the time you see it
- Student is it eating somthing
- Guest david who are you
- Guest aunts can carry food twice there size
- Guest poop
- Guest dragon fly is Amber and Hannah
- Guest what are those lines sticking out
Bugscope Team those are setae, hair like things that help insects to feel their way around
- Guest can flys have babies?
Bugscope Team Yep, they are called maggots.
- Student What is that?
- Guest how strong are ants
Bugscope Team they are very strong for their size, much stronger than humans, relatively speaking
- Guest is it eating somthing??
Bugscope Team the mouthparts often make ants look like they are eating something, but what we see are just how complicated the mouth of an ant is
- Student wow
- Guest how much hair does it have
- Guest does the ant poop
Bugscope Team oh yes, insects excrete waste, all live needs to excrete some kind of waste of some form
- Student What is that
Bugscope Team this is the underside of an ant's mouth. So we are seeing the hinged jaw to the very top of the screen and we are seeing things that looks like furry legs that are palps, which help the ant taste and move around food
- Guest how big can a misquito get?
- Guest what is that
- 8:31am
- Guest how much do ants eat each year
- Guest blood
- Guest hi
- Guest what is that
- Guest do they have hairs in there mouth?
Bugscope Team the tiny hairs we see, called 'setae,' or 'microsetae,' or sometimes other names, are often sensory -- they are used to feel, and to smell
Bugscope Team yes, some of those hairs (setae) are used for tasting food!
- Student hi
- Guest what is this picter
- Guest how long is the hair
Bugscope Team they are very small, microns in size, although they do vary. a micron is a millionth of one meter
- Guest why is there hair on a grass hoper
- Guest hi
- Guest how big is an ants mouth
Bugscope Team we can see that at the outside, the ant's mouth is about 500 microns, or 500 micrometers, or half a millimeter long
- Guest how big is the hornets stinger
Bugscope Team It is not very long, but it still hurts a lot because it injects venom.
- Guest how old can a ant get?
Bugscope Team they usually live for around 3 months
- Guest i heard people say crickets are very weak is that true???
- Bugscope Team the hairs are never called hairs. they are called setae (see-tee)
- Guest does the ant eat people
Bugscope Team well, some ant species are dangerous to small animals, so maybe a baby could be at risk. but i don't think any ants in the USA are that aggressive. but i'm not 100% sure!
- Guest hi
- Student thank cate
- Guest how many ants does it take to carey a BOOK
- Guest how long are the antennas
- Guest hi
- Guest E=mc2
Bugscope Team what does the c stand for in that equation?
- Guest i lerned ho much ants ate
- Guest yo hi
- Bugscope Team ants will eat almost anything but they are partial to sweet things
- Guest peace
- Student will ants eat tomato
Bugscope Team Not really sweet enough for them, or enough protein. But they might take some for the water.
- Guest how big is an ants gaw
Bugscope Team walking stick we can see one ant's jaw here, and you can see the scalebar on the left; it's less than a millimeter long here, but they vary quite a bit in length
- Guest does the ant have guts
- Guest hi collage people
- Student What are the cracks down your mouth?
Bugscope Team that is where the jaws open. Their jaws open out like a gate, unlike ours which open up and down
- Guest how much do ants weigh
- Guest how many cm are ants jaws
- Bugscope Team in E=mc2, c refers to the speed of light, which is a constant, just thought i'd mention that... :)
- Guest yes
- 8:36am
- Guest .l,'''
- Student thanks
- Guest farmmmmmmmm
- Guest farm
- Guest does the ant pick his noes
Bugscope Team the ant doesn't have a nose; most insects don't; but it does clean its antennae using special combs built into its forelimbs
Bugscope Team well, they don't have noses, although they do have combs to brush things off their face and such. ants smell things through their setae (hairs)
- Guest so fhgbhjfdknvuygf
- Guest no
- 8:44am
- Bugscope Team up close, insects have LOTS of those setae (see-tee), those are very important for the insect to feel its way around
- Bugscope Team this is the face of one of the three ants, and here we can see the jaws, the front of the head, and the bases of the antennae.
- Bugscope Team since insects have an exoskeleton which cannot feel, those hairs are vital to the insects survival
- Bugscope Team it's like an insect is walking around in a suit of armour, and has those setae sticking through the armour to nerve underneath
- Guest how do bugs bite??
Bugscope Team they use their jaws; sometimes they have, like with horseflies, slashing mouthparts that cut your skin
Bugscope Team they have jaws, or piercing mouth parts that help them to collect food into their mouths
- Guest baby
- Bugscope Team if you were a horsefly and had to cut into horse skin you would have some pretty sharp and long slashing mouthparts
- Bugscope Team these are palps in the mouth of one of the ants
- Guest y fhufhuoidshuifhioughiudguih
- Guest why is it harry
Bugscope Team those hairs are called setae (see-tee), and the help the insect sense its environment, very very important for insects to have all those hairs
- 8:49am
- Guest do all bugs bite
Bugscope Team well, no, some don't even have mouths
- Student what are the leg s
- Guest how many legs are there?
Bugscope Team insects have 6 legs. These hairy things are palps in the mouth and are not legs
- Guest how harry
- Guest why do ants have hair?
- Guest why are ants bla
- Guest how come ithas alot of haires.
- Guest why are ants black
Bugscope Team not all ants are black, some are red
- Guest b
- Student why are bugs so small
Bugscope Team It's actually because of the exoskeleton. At larger sizes, it just can't hold the insect together.
- Bugscope Team those hairs are called SETAE (see-tee), ALL insects have setae, they is like cat whiskers, helping them feel their environment
- Guest are ants cold or warm bloded?
Bugscope Team they are cold blooded
- Guest is that where they have ther babys
- Student what are the hairy legs
- Guest what are the legs under the jaw?
Bugscope Team those are palps; they look like legs but they are accessory mouthparts; they help insects feel, manipulate, and taste their food
- Guest why are the legs by the mouth
- Guest
- Student how are insets diferint
- Student what are the leg
- Guest why are they hairy?
- Guest wiy are the legs onder the gou
- Guest what do you the ants do in the winter
Bugscope Team Many ants will stay in the nest all winter, feeding on stored foods. But some ants are ONLY active in the winter, taking advantage of the fact that all their competition is gone.
- Guest why are some ants red?
Bugscope Team colors sometimes come from the diet of the insect. if you look at an ant using a normal microscope you might see that its cuticle -- its exoskeleton -- is almost transparent
- Student hi
- Guest why do ants have their legs in mouth
Bugscope Team maybe it ate another bug!!!
- Guest what aree the legs under the jaw
Bugscope Team well, those are not legs, things coming from the mouth area can be things like a proboscis, or antenna, or setae...
- 8:55am
- Bugscope Team they do look like legs though, don't they?
- Bugscope Team if we zoom out we can get a better look
- Bugscope Team ah, cool, nice job mrs. C!
- Bugscope Team I would like to see what happened to that left eye, on the right
- Bugscope Team it looks like the eye is cracked
- Bugscope Team Believe it or not, they are actually legs - in a sense. The original insects probably had legs there, and as time went on they evolved into the more specialized 'palps' - used for tasting and not for walking.
- Bugscope Team be sure to check out some of the other places on the stub -- the other presets -- for comparison to what we are seeing now
- Bugscope Team awesome rob, thanks for clarifying about the leg out of the mouth thing
- Bugscope Team rob is an entomologist, so he knows better than i do!
- Bugscope Team They really do look like legs in these images! It's almost like evolution is reversing. ;)
- 9:01am
- Teacher what are we looking at
- Bugscope Team this is the underside of the ant's head. so we are looking up at the underside of the mouth
- Bugscope Team see the curved jaws?
- Bugscope Team this is cool
- Teacher what is an ant comb
Bugscope Team the ant uses it to clean itself from debris and such
- Bugscope Team this is one of the 'combs' we often find on the forelimbs of ants
- Bugscope Team the fine bristles on the comb allow the ant to clean its antennae of dust and debris
- Bugscope Team ah the cricket head
- Bugscope Team she may have more complicated mouthparts than the ant
- Bugscope Team you could see two sets of jaws
- Teacher what is this
- Guest v
- Bugscope Team this is the face of the cricket
- 9:06am
- Guest why is this
- Bugscope Team one or two jaws are visible at the bottom of the image we see now
- Bugscope Team this is a close up of the cricket head, if you zoom out you can see more of it
- Student were the eyes
Bugscope Team you can see one of the eyes now to the very right of the screen and a round area
- Bugscope Team the thing that looks like a tiny shield is a scale from another insect
- Student were does a water bug live
Bugscope Team Think about the name. ;) You find them in freshwater.
- Student where are the eyes on a cricket
Bugscope Team eyes on insects are usually found on the very sides of the head, not in the front of the head like for us. One of the eyes is visible to the right of the viewing area as a round lump
- Guest how big can a insect get
Bugscope Team wow, there's lots of big ones, some praying mantis are huge, the size of your hand. some beetles can get really big too.
- Guest what is the most valuable
- Guest how do they mate
- Student were the mouth
- Guest how big is an ants brain
- Guest wear is ear
Bugscope Team Cricket ears are actually in a really weird place - they are on the front legs.
- Guest how big can crickets get
- Student how long can the cricket live?
- Guest how can a praymantince get
Bugscope Team in the Tropics a praying mantis can be as long as your hand, and they can also fly, as adults, so they can be very impressive
- Student we the but
- Guest How many years have you stuted bugs?
Bugscope Team A while now - about 5 years. And there's still a lot I dont know!
- Student how many body parts are does a cricket have
Bugscope Team many, head, abdomen, leg segments, antenna, etc
- Student where do cricket live
Bugscope Team Field crickets like these will dig little burrows under the soil.
- Guest how many eyes does it has.
- Guest why are cricket so hariy
- Guest are there hairs on it
Bugscope Team totally! those hairs are called setae (see-tee), they help insects sense their environment. TONS of setae on insects, all over the place
- Student crazy
- Student mom
- Guest how old dos it git
- Student hello
Bugscope Team hello!
- Guest how many foods does it eats
Bugscope Team Crickets are what we call "polyphagous," they eat almost anything.
- 9:11am
- Guest what is this animal
Bugscope Team this is a cricket
- Bugscope Team 'poly' means 'many,' and 'phage' refers to eating
- Guest how do primanteses mate
Bugscope Team well, it is an interesting encounter. the male and female mate, and then sometimes the female will bite off the head of the male, during mating.
- 9:16am
- Bugscope Team they have internal fertilization like many animals
- Guest yo
- Guest me ask:who long can an ant live?
Bugscope Team well, it depends on the caste. worker ants don't live long at all, whereas queens can live years (ala rob)
- Guest k
- Guest hello?
Bugscope Team Hello Hornet!
- Bugscope Team hey hornet1
- Bugscope Team hi, welcome to bugscope!
- Guest gvfyufvjvhvytg
Bugscope Team and a lknasdflue to you too, stink bug!
- Guest hi,alex
- Guest im ben
- Bugscope Team Hi Ben!
- Guest grose
- Guest what is a hornet?
Bugscope Team A hornet is a type of large wasp.
- Guest NOOOOOOOOO
- Guest OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
- Guest cool
- Guest HF
- Guest help
- Guest SOS
Bugscope Team hey what's the matter? do you see the image on the screen? do you need to refresh (hit F5)?
- 9:22am
- Bugscope Team whgat's up?
- Bugscope Team what is up?
- Guest help me
- Bugscope Team how can i help?
- Guest WHAT IS THAT
Bugscope Team this is a comb on an ant, it uses it to brush things off of it's antenna, or it's compound eyes
- Bugscope Team if your image is black, try hitting refresh, like scott says. F5 is refresh.
- Teacher the kids want tot know what in the world this is
- Bugscope Team this is one of the combs on the forelimb of an ant
- Student what in the world is going on
Bugscope Team you are looking at LIVE images from an electron microscope, your teacher is controlling the scope via the internet
- Bugscope Team it has fine little bristles on it so the ant can use it to keep its antennae clean, or its eyes, as Alex says
- Guest WHAT IS A ANT COMB
- Guest what is an antcomb
- Bugscope Team do you want to see what the inside of the electron microscope looks like?
- Guest hfgfc
- Bugscope Team the comb is what the ant uses to keep its antennae clean
- Student this is desguisting
Bugscope Team yeah, isn't it cool?
- Guest THAT IS SICK
- Guest how strong is a ant jaw
Bugscope Team depending on the ant, the jaw may be able to grasp and help the ant lift something several times its weight. some ant jaws are especially strong; those of leafcutter ants have powerful muscles operating them so they can cut large pieces of leaves.
- Guest THAT IS EVEN SICKER
- Guest how do cricks breath?
Bugscope Team good question! they use this hole thing, it's called a spiracle, and air goes into the body of the cricket, and that is how it gets nutrients from the air
- Guest do ants have white teeth
Bugscope Team Ants have a pair of mandibles instead of teeth, and usually they are the same color as the body.
- Guest do ants live long
Bugscope Team the queen does, but worker ants don't live long, no
- 9:27am
- Guest BOOGER BURGER
- Guest OTYYYY7IJIJYIJIOIOIO
- Guest do they have a touge
Bugscope Team they don't have a tongue but they have accessory mouthparts to help them get food into their mouths and to taste it as well
- Bugscope Team Some ants can actually launch themselves into the air by closing their jaws quickly. Imagine doing that with your mouth.
- Guest can ants run fast
- Guest im puking
Bugscope Team get a bucket first!!!!
- Guest is bugsthat
- Student n
- Guest help
Bugscope Team how can i help?
- Student ben is hornet1
- Guest i threw up
Bugscope Team i hope in a bucket
- Guest jkkkkkkkkkkkkjj v xjnn jhjfgju vb vb b
- Guest hi
Bugscope Team hi there
- Bugscope Team this is the proboscis of a soldier fly
- 9:32am
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag down you will be able to see the rest of the head
- Bugscope Team you can see one of the eyes, barely, on the right at the bottom of the screen now
- Bugscope Team yes the eye is the bumpy part
- Bugscope Team here's the inside of the scope
- Bugscope Team you can see the bugs on the stub
- 9:38am
- Bugscope Team this is the inside of the microscope you are using today
- Bugscope Team in the middle of the screen, sort of, is the stage the insects are stuck to for this session
- Bugscope Team ok, we turned the electron detector back on, now you can see the ant head
- Bugscope Team this is the head of an ant with unusually comlex compound eyes
- Bugscope Team some ants do not even have eyes; ants rely much more on their antennae than their eyes
- Bugscope Team you can see the bases of the antennae to the north here...
- Bugscope Team the antenna fits into the head using a ball-and-socket joint
- Bugscope Team and their setae (see-tee)
- Bugscope Team now we see the underside of an ant head
- Guest what are we looking at now?
Bugscope Team this is the mouth of an ant!
- 9:43am
- Bugscope Team now you can see where that comb is on the ant arm
- Bugscope Team and here we see one of the spiracles through which insects breathe
- Bugscope Team this is on the body of the cricket
- Bugscope Team this is a spiracle. insects don't breath through their mouths, instead they have these holes on their abdomens, and air goes inside and feeds the bugs air
- Bugscope Team see where it is?
- Bugscope Team here, the spiracles are on the legs
- Bugscope Team it's on the abdomen
- Bugscope Team ah, here is a really cool looking compound eye
- Bugscope Team this is cool!
- Bugscope Team the bumps are the individual facets of the eye, each one has a lens in it
- Bugscope Team the bumps are called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team and notice the setae in the upper right?
- Bugscope Team sometimes you'll find setae in between the ommatidia
- Bugscope Team the fly whose eye this is is a bee mimic called a bee fly
- Bugscope Team we're going to have owl pellets sometime soon
- Teacher we are working with 2 and 3 graders so we have been looking and talking about the insects - but not having them type as many questions as they tend to accidently log themselves off
Bugscope Team no problemo
- Bugscope Team I do that too!
- Teacher thanks for all yoyu are doing
- Bugscope Team :)
- Bugscope Team flying insects have great vision
- Bugscope Team yay
- Bugscope Team partly because those compound eyes are so complex
- 9:49am
- Bugscope Team ah, this is cool, a claw on a weevil
- Bugscope Team Hey, this is a cool picture.
- Bugscope Team weevil's don't wobble and they don't fall down
- Bugscope Team yeah sorry it is charging in the lower portion
- Bugscope Team Ever wondered how insects stick to smooth walls and windows? Those rows of hairs you see are covered in oils.
- Bugscope Team it is cool 'cause we can see a well-developed pulvillus
- Bugscope Team insects use claws for all kinds of things: defense, stuffing food into their mouths, holding onto things for movement and balance, etc.
- Bugscope Team this weevil is interesting, also, because it has a very long proboscis, and it also has scales on its exoskeleton
- Bugscope Team weevils often have scales and they fall off as they get older
- 9:54am
- Bugscope Team the ant!
- Bugscope Team nice, this is an ant head
- Bugscope Team ants are related to wasps
- Bugscope Team you can see the jaw clampers near the mouth area. and the two compound eyes on either side of the head. and the two antenna coming from between the compound eyes
- Bugscope Team there is a scale from another insect on the jaw on the left
- Bugscope Team this is an ant, too, from the underside of the head
- Bugscope Team you can see the jaws here, too. they're curved
- Bugscope Team the jaws fold over each other and open like a gate, from side to side. insect mouths are not like ours -- usually the mouth opens sideways compared to our mouths
- Bugscope Team this is a comb -- a built-in comb -- on the leg of the ant
- 9:59am
- Bugscope Team look to the top and left of center
- Bugscope Team See you!
- Bugscope Team this is one of the pores through which insects breathe
- Bugscope Team and this is the 'tail' of the cricket
- Bugscope Team crickets lay their eggs, as many insects do, using a long tube called an 'ovipositor.'
- Bugscope Team that was the ovipositor of the cricket, and this is part of the eye of the bee fly
- Bugscope Team this is the head of the bee fly!
- Bugscope Team it has a huge long proboscis
- 10:06am
- Bugscope Team the reason the bee fly has a long proboscis is because it prefers to hover over flowers when it collects nectar.
- Bugscope Team it resembles a bee in some ways, and it feeds on about the same things as bees, but it doesn't like to land on things.
- Bugscope Team so that long proboscis can reach down into a flower while the bee fly is hovering in place
- Bugscope Team see its eyes?
- Bugscope Team its eyes take up most of its head unlike the ants
- Bugscope Team thats because flies rely on them more. ants are more dependent on their antennae because they live in the ground
- Student hello
- Bugscope Team hey there water bug
- Guest how many tipes of bugs are there?
- Bugscope Team Not sure of how many species there are, but the estimated number of insects on Earth is thought to be close to 8 million
- 10:12am
- Student how
- 10:17am
- Bugscope Team how what water bug?
- Student wow
- Bugscope Team oh yes indeed
- Student gross
- Bugscope Team this is one of the spiracles the cricket uses to breathe
- Guest cd
- Student cool
- Bugscope Team it has lots of tiny spines that we think function as a filter to keep dust and pollen out
- Bugscope Team this is the ovipositor -- the egg-laying tube at the tail end of the cricket
- Student cool
- Bugscope Team this is a closeup of some of the eye facets of the bee fly
- Student hair?
Bugscope Team well, not hair, but close. it's called setae (see-tee), they are like cat whiskers in that they help insects to sense their environment
- Bugscope Team yes there is even hair on the compound eye!
- Bugscope Team see how long its proboscis is?
- 10:22am
- Guest hytg
- Guest sup
- Student how long
- Bugscope Team that is an extended tube that the fly uses to collect nectar from flowers
- Guest mmZ
- Bugscope Team about 3 mm!
- Guest nvnbmv
- Student i like you
- Student bye!
- Bugscope Team bye water bug
- Bugscope Team bye bye water bug!
- 10:29am
- Bugscope Team session starts at 7, setup even earlier right?
- Bugscope Team oops sorry
- Bugscope Team this is a head of a bee fly, with HUGE compound eyes
- Bugscope Team and that thing sticking out of the middle of its head is the proboscis
- Guest how big do they get?
Bugscope Team they can be, in the Tropics, 40 mm long
- Bugscope Team the largest proboscis on an life form i the elephant trunk
- Bugscope Team well, this proboscis is about 2 millimeters, that is very large for a small insects
- Guest legs?
Bugscope Team yep, it has legs too, those are a bit to the south of here
- Bugscope Team although i guess you can see them a bit
- Guest where do they live
Bugscope Team anywhere where there is pollen and nectar, these fly's are a major pollinator of plant species
- Bugscope Team if you zoom in on the compound eyes you can see more structure. compound eyes are very cool
- Guest what do they eat
Bugscope Team pollen and nectar
- Guest specific continent
Bugscope Team I think, as usual, every continent but the big one on the bottom of the world
- Bugscope Team The larval stages are predators or parasitoids of other insect eggs and larvae.
- Bugscope Team they hover over flowers rather than landing, so they need to have a longer proboscis than normal
- Bugscope Team of course like other fly's, they are born as predatory larvae and feed of other insects
- 10:34am
- Bugscope Team ah, like cate said!
- Guest how old do they get
Bugscope Team well, i'm not sure, it's so hard to know. but i think a life span of a season is probably normal?
- Bugscope Team usually a year in temperate climates
- Guest what preadators do they have
Bugscope Team I don't know that they have specific predators -- probably birds, bats, praying mantises, dragonflies, assassin bugs
- Bugscope Team as scott said, Bee flies occur on all continents except Antarctica, however their highest diversities occur in semi-arid and arid environments
- Bugscope Team yeah, like cate said, lots of small birds feed on insects. when you see birds flying around a light pole just when it is about to get dark, that's because they are feeding on flying insects. they just fly through the swarming insects and chomp on as many insects as they can. the wood thrush bird does this all the time. very cool bird it is.
- Bugscope Team because they hover they are perhaps less apt to be eaten by insects/spiders on the flowers themselves
- 10:40am
- Guest what is this
- Guest same thing?
- Bugscope Team this is a claw of a weevil
- Bugscope Team this is one of the tarsi -- the terminal tarsus and claw, of the weevil
- Bugscope Team the claw part is above and to the right
- Guest where do they live
- Bugscope Team the furry part is what helps it grab onto surfaces
- Guest do they fly
- Guest underground?
- Guest have you ever done a love bug before?
Bugscope Team not that i recall, scott?
- Bugscope Team we have but not for awhile
- Guest how many times?
- Bugscope Team I think most weevils do not fly
- Bugscope Team this weevil is known as an acorn or nut weevil
- Guest what bugs have you never done
- Bugscope Team there are so many it is hard to say; you could say that in 10 years we have barely looked at insects at all, not a huge diversity of them
- 10:46am
- Guest oh
- Guest how big do these get?
Bugscope Team they are said to get about a half inch long
- Bugscope Team I just read that bean weevils fly. It is often said that weevils commonly play dead if you disturb them, and they may not start moving again for 5 minutes
- Guest cool
- Guest '' bean'' weevils
- Guest '
- Guest preadators
- Guest how old
Bugscope Team like many insects they probably live a year or less in this--temperate climate
- Bugscope Team Hi Centipede1!
- Guest what are we looking at
- Guest antennea
- Bugscope Team this is an ant]
- Bugscope Team ant
- Bugscope Team the jaw was at the bottom of the image
- Bugscope Team here is the underside of the ant head
- Guest what are those wiggly lines near what I think is the mouth
Bugscope Team the things that look like antennae, or limbs, are palps, which are accessory mouthparts
- Bugscope Team this is another ant, but we see it from beneath, as Cate said
- 10:51am
- Guest How old can ants get?
Bugscope Team they usually live for 3 months
- Teacher what are the things sticking out of the mouth that look like arms
Bugscope Team those are called palps, which are used to help it eat and taste food
- Bugscope Team Queen ants are said to be able to live a decade, in some cases.
- Bugscope Team Rob, who was on earlier, said they are evolved legs so that is why they look like legs
- Guest hi
Bugscope Team Hi Cicada!
- Bugscope Team the ant lifespan is variable. some live 90 days, some 2 to 6 months, and queens may live much longer
- Bugscope Team hi cicada
- Student What do ants eat?
Bugscope Team most species like to eat anything sweet
- Guest what do ants do for a living?
Bugscope Team ants are social in behavior, so they live in a collective and work towards the better of the whole society
- Student how long are ants?
- Guest How they eat food?
- Teacher i am trying to get to the ant comb preset but the screen seems to be frozen
- Guest When were ants first discovered?
- Guest how old is the oldest ant in the world?
Bugscope Team ants evolved from wasp-like insects more than 100 million years ago
- Guest What eats ants?
- 10:56am
- Guest why did scientests name bugs bugs
Bugscope Team bugs are called bugs because the root of the word bug has to do with things that people dread -- that people are afraid of
- Guest why is the an antsmouth so hairy?
Bugscope Team well, those hairs are called setae (see-tee) and they help it to sense its environment, taste its food, feel wind and stuff like that
- Guest Hi whats your name?
- Student Do ants eat other ants?
Bugscope Team yes ants definitely can eat other ants
- Guest How big is the biggist ant?
- Guest How many ants are in the world?
Bugscope Team Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants living on the earth at any given time
- Guest how big is the biggest ant?
Bugscope Team The male driver ant, also called a sausage fly, is the largest ant in the world. It can be 3 centimeters long. Driver ants are also known as safari ants or siafu.
- Guest why is the things that come out of ther mouth harey
- Student Why do fire ants bite?
Bugscope Team fire ants inject venom to kill other insects; the same venom is also used an antibiotic to protect larvae, but in a sprayed form, not injected
- Bugscope Team i had to fix the scope there, should be back to normal now, i moved to a new preset
- Guest how big is dhfgtu
- Student how many bugs do you have in the lab?
Bugscope Team we have several hundred insects in the lab
- Bugscope Team how many ants cate?
- Bugscope Team one quadrillion
- Bugscope Team can you show me in match sticks?
- Bugscope Team ;)
- 11:01am
- Bugscope Team match sticks to fill the city
- Bugscope Team this is a spiracle, a breathing hole on a cricket
- Bugscope Team some are alive!
- Bugscope Team insects don't breath with their mouths, they have these holes on their abdomen areas, and air goes into the hole and that is how they breath
- Bugscope Team they breathe through spiracles like these
- Bugscope Team all of the spines inside the spiracle serve as a filter to keep dust and dirt out of the airways
- Bugscope Team so, like bugaboo, and related to bogge, and bog, and hobgoblin, from what I read
- 11:06am
- Bugscope Team the 'true bugs,' to an entomologist, are certain species that have, among other attributes, piercing mouthpart
- Bugscope Team mouthparts
- Bugscope Team this is the part of the forelimb of the ant that helps it clean its antennae
- Bugscope Team this is a cricket head
- 11:11am
- Bugscope Team wow that was cool to see the 'scope move past some of the other insects
- Bugscope Team kind of complex looking, if you zoom out you'll see more of it
- Bugscope Team back to the spiracle
- Bugscope Team this is the ovipositor
- Bugscope Team the cricket uses this to deposit its eggs
- Bugscope Team when the cricket was alive those two halves of the tube would have been together
- Bugscope Team yay!
- Bugscope Team this is the bee fly!
- Bugscope Team see its proboscis?
- Bugscope Team the bee fly hovers over flowers to collect nectar through that long tube -- the proboscis
- 11:17am
- Bugscope Team you can see its palps, on either side of the proboscis, that help it taste what the proboscis is probing
- Teacher thank you so much for telling us all about what we are seeing! The kids absolutely loved this - they were completely engaged!!!!! We just had the last class come through so we are all done until June 17th - talk with you again then - again thananks so much this was awesome!
- Bugscope Team Thank You! See you in 12 days!
- Bugscope Team thank you!
- Bugscope Team thank you and see you again soon!'
