Connected on 2012-05-09 11:28:53 from Alameda, California, United States
- 1:08pm
- Bugscope Team it is 1:06 here in Urbana; 11:06 in California. We will be connecting at 2 p.m. our time, noon California time.
- 1:18pm
- 1:25pm
- 1:43pm
- Teacher I am here. My class comes in at 12:00
- Bugscope Team Cool!
- Bugscope Team This preset has drifted a bit.
- Bugscope Team that's more like it
- Bugscope Team Mrs K you should be able to click on any of the presets on the lefthand screen, and whichever one you select will show up on the center screen, live.
- Teacher awesome
- Teacher our class has been discussing adaptations (2nd grade)
- Bugscope Team in a sec I will be at the 'scope and do some tweaking of the focus. it's easier, of course, at the 'scope.
- Bugscope Team wing scales are helpful in a number of ways; they are comparable to feathers in birds
- 1:48pm
- Bugscope Team foremost might be that they are helpful in escaping from spiderwebs
- Bugscope Team they also function much like feathers, in giving the insect lightweight surface area that helps it hold onto the air when it flies
- Bugscope Team and much like feathers in that they provide color, of two types: pigment-based and structural
- Bugscope Team in addition, they help with thermoregulation -- keeping the insect's temperature stable as much as possible
- Teacher Cool! When they come in I will tell them and have them ask other questions about adaptations
- 1:54pm
- Bugscope Team some interruptions from other 'scope users...
- Bugscope Team you can think about insects as having to live, like we do, and having a different body style, size, etc. All of their adaptations are comparable to our adaptations, but different.
- Bugscope Team that is, insects have to solve the same problems we do, such as getting oxygen to our cells, eating, etc., but they have to do it a different way
- 2:00pm
- Bugscope Team we are ready to roll!
- Bugscope Team the scales we are looking at now are what make a butterfly's wings feel so silky when we stroked them. they are also what the fine powder is that comes off of the wings so easily.
- Bugscope Team the vertical lines in the scales -- the ridges we see going up and down -- are so thin that they interfere with the wavelengths of light we see coming from the scales
- Bugscope Team they cause us to see colors that change as they move, slightly
- 2:06pm
- Teacher What are we seeing?
- Bugscope Team this is a ladybug larva
- Bugscope Team it's almost like it's sitting up
- Bugscope Team the cute little ladybugs did not always look so cute
- Teacher What do the spiny things do?
Bugscope Team they would help the larva from being eaten. The spines would annoy whatever was trying to eat it
- Teacher very cool
- Teacher do they have feet or just legs?
Bugscope Team it looks like they do not have feet like the adults do
- 2:11pm
- Bugscope Team we can see now that at the end of the limb (there are six limbs) there is a single claw and also a lot of setae
- Teacher what do setae do?
- Bugscope Team the setae are fine hairlike features that in this case help the ladybug larva stick to the surface of a leaf, for example
- Bugscope Team when we look at an adult we will see the same features, but in a way more refined
- Bugscope Team the setae are flattened out on the ends, helping them stick to surfaces
- Teacher can we look at the head?
- Bugscope Team such setae are called 'tenent' setae because they hold onto things, like the Spanish work 'tener' -- to hold
- Bugscope Team we can see that the head has four (two pairs) of palps on it that help with feeding
- Teacher oh cool
- Teacher what are the fang-like things in the front?
Bugscope Team those are palps. There are 2 sets. They help with tasting or moving around food
- 2:18pm
- Bugscope Team ladybug larvae are predators like the adults
- Bugscope Team here we see one of the stemmata, now in the middle of the screen. it is collapsed; normally it would be bulbous
- Teacher does it have the antenna yet?
Bugscope Team this is one of the antennae
- Bugscope Team let's compare the larva to an adult ladybug
- Teacher what are we seeing?
- Teacher does it have compound eyes yet?
Bugscope Team no it has stemmata, which are what caterpillar eyes are called
Bugscope Team stemmata are more like compound eyes than simple eyes. They're probably more like a simplified compound eye.
- Bugscope Team it's so much cuter!
- Teacher what are the differences?
- Bugscope Team the adult ladybug, here, has compound eyes on either side of its head, and it still has four palps, two of which look like vacuum cleaner nozzles
- 2:23pm
- Bugscope Team the body has changed a lot as well
- Bugscope Team the antennae are the longest things here, and they are clubbed at the ends
- Bugscope Team now we can see the compound eye, with the antenna curving across it
- Bugscope Team wings are now formed, the fore wings are hard, acting as a sort of airfoil, (in beetles), and the hind wings are folded beneath this and unfold when they are ready to take flight
- Bugscope Team this is quite different from the stemmata
- Bugscope Team insects do not normally have noses for smelling -- some of the setae we see are chemosensory, and much of the surface of the antenna is covered with chemosensory (scent-sensitive) hairs
- Bugscope Team and when insects breathe, rather than using noses or mouths, they have pores in their body segments that let air in
- 2:29pm
- Bugscope Team this is a spiracle, which is what insects breathe through
- Bugscope Team the spiracle has setae around it that function like a filter to keep particles out
- Bugscope Team if we take the magnification down we can see what insect we are looking at
- Bugscope Team do you recognize the insect now?
- Bugscope Team you can still see the spiracle, in the center of where we are looking now
- Teacher we have many guesses
- Bugscope Team the spiracle is in the thorax, which is what the legs are attached to
- Bugscope Team you can cheat by looking at the caption to the upper left
- Teacher what is the insect?
Bugscope Team it is a housefly, and likely a female housefly
- Bugscope Team in flies, the eyes of the males are often close together, and those of the females are often spaced far apart
- Bugscope Team now we can see the compound eyes, on either side of the head
- 2:35pm
- Bugscope Team in the center, top of the head, we see the antennae, which have a chunky base and then branchlike 'aristate' portions
- Teacher Where is its mouth?
Bugscope Team it's right in the middle. It is very hairy. It has a sponging mouthpart
- Bugscope Team when the fly was alive its mouth was wetter than this; it is very dry now
- Teacher is this the mouth?
Bugscope Team yes it is!
- Teacher How does it eat food?
Bugscope Team it spits saliva onto what it wants to eat, and the saliva dissolves the food; it then sponges it up
- 2:42pm
- Teacher what is around the mouth?
Bugscope Team remember the ladybug palps? we can see that the fly has two palps -- they look like cactus, kind of -- above the sponging mouthparts
- Bugscope Team there is an indentatio around the mouth, probably so that the fly can at least partially retract its mouthparts when it flies
- Teacher Do insects like this fly have ears?
Bugscope Team Insects have tympanums, a lot of insects have these around the thorax, abdomen or legs. This is usually determined by where the tympanums can be farthest apart, to give the insect the best directional cues
- Bugscope Team oops 'an indentation'
- Teacher can we see the aphid?
- Bugscope Team praying mantises have a single centrally located ear on the thorax that helps them hear the ultrasonic chirps of bats
- Bugscope Team teenage ninja mutant aphid
- Teacher can we see its abdomen?
Bugscope Team this, now, is the abdomen of one of the aphids
- Bugscope Team aphids have these things that are like dual exhaust pipes called cornicles
- 2:47pm
- Bugscope Team some cornicles produce a kind of nectar, a sugary water, that ants like
- Bugscope Team some cornicles, however, produce a kind of hotmelt glue that hardens as soon as it comes out into the air
- Teacher why is it wrinkly?
Bugscope Team after it died it dried out, becoming wrinkly
- Bugscope Team this thing that looks like a cannon, on the second aphid, is a cornicle
- Bugscope Team when the glue-like substance comes out of some aphids' cornicles, it hardens and immobilizes ants
- Teacher awesome!
- Teacher Thank you so much the class has to go now
- 2:52pm
- Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Bugscope Team We enjoyed working with you today!
- Bugscope Team Thanks!
- Bugscope Team https://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-134
- Bugscope Team thanks for joining us today
- Teacher We enjoyed it too, will love to do it again
- Bugscope Team goodbye!
- Bugscope Team please apply soon for a session as much as a year away -- we have been so busy
- Bugscope Team below is the link to this session
- Bugscope Team Bye!
