Connected on 2012-12-17 09:00:00 from Winnebago, Illinois, United States
- 7:47am
- Bugscope Team starting setup for this morning's session
- Bugscope Team sample is still coating
- 7:53am
- Bugscope Team sample is now in 'scope and pumping down
- 8:02am
- Bugscope Team waiting for vacuum to get just a bit better
- Bugscope Team one more tenth
- 8:09am
- Bugscope Team good morning!
- Bugscope Team welcome to Bugscope!
- Teacher login looks good, going to set up the Smartboard
- Bugscope Team super cool
- 8:15am
- 8:22am
- 8:27am
- 8:33am
- 8:41am
- 8:47am
- Teacher how are things on your end....we are just about ready
- 8:52am
- Bugscope Team we are ready -- sorry I was looking something up about the sizes of cocci
- Bugscope Team I think these are mold spores
- Bugscope Team you are welcome to start at any time
- Bugscope Team let us know when you have questions
- Teacher ok
- Bugscope Team this is the claw of an ichneumon wasp
- Bugscope Team its ovipositor is as long as its body
- Teacher thank you
- Bugscope Team you can actually see two claws, and in the middle is a pulvillus, which has tiny setae on it that help the wasp cling to surfacesae
- 8:57am
- Bugscope Team to the right, the thing with ridges is called an unguitractor
- Bugscope Team the unguitractor is a tendon that retracts and lengthens in order to close and open the claws
- Bugscope Team the bristles we see are mostly mechanosensory -- they help the wasp feel when it is touching something
- Teacher does it open up every time it lands
- Bugscope Team I think it opens and closes much like our hands open and close -- at the will of the insect at the time
- Bugscope Team please let us know if you have any trouble driving
- Bugscope Team there are a number of presets for you to choose from on the lefthand screen
- Bugscope Team insects and comparable arthropods like spiders and shrimp do not have skin like we do
- Teacher we are having trouble moving a new slide on
- Bugscope Team they have an exoskeleton instead
- Teacher there we go
- Bugscope Team see if things work better now. sometimes we get stuck on one preset
- Bugscope Team not sure why
- 9:02am
- Teacher we got it thank you
- Bugscope Team you are driving an scanning electron microscope from your classroom; what you see are insects that have been stuck to a metal disc and coated with gold-palladium; everything is in a vacuum chamber
- Bugscope Team a scanning electron microscope (SEM), that is
- Teacher what are the hair called thats on his eyes
- Bugscope Team because I am sitting at the controls of the instrument, I can help with focus from here
- Bugscope Team this is the housefly
- Bugscope Team one of its compound eyes is taking up most of the view here; to the right is the vestiture, which is the 'dressing' on the front of the head
- Bugscope Team the individual facets of the eye are called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team some large wasps and some moths may have as many as 17,000 ommatidia per compound eye
- Bugscope Team that is in addition to the ocelli, which are 'simple' eyes. there are three of those on top of the head
- Bugscope Team we can see dirt, debris, what looks like a web, and at least one mold spore here
- 9:08am
- Teacher does the flies have pipuls
Bugscope Team they don't have pupils, but each individual ommatidium collects a whole image, like a lens
- Bugscope Team you can see how the stinger cuts into your skin
- Bugscope Team those barbs can make it hard to get out, but yellowjackets can sting repeatedly
- Teacher what are the ridges
Bugscope Team they're like the teeth of a saw blade; they help the stinger cut into whatever the yellowjacket wants to sting
- Teacher and what is the thing in the middle and what is the stuff on the sides
Bugscope Team there is debris, including dried fluid, perhaps dried venom, in the middle, and you can also see some setae, forming a kind of V shape; it's just debris, like dirt
- Bugscope Team setae are what we call the things that look like hairs
- Bugscope Team setae, bristles, spines, trichae, microsetae, microtrichae
- 9:13am
- Bugscope Team because insects have an exoskeleton instead of skin, they do not have the ability to feel things touching them like we do; that is, not without the setae that stick through the exoskeleton
- Bugscope Team setae can be mechano- or touch-sensory, like cat or rat whiskers
- Bugscope Team they can be chemosensory, meaning they can pick up smells in the air or by touch (taste)
- Bugscope Team they can also be thermosensory, for sensing hot/cold
- Teacher do they have senses like we do
Bugscope Team yes they do, but they have different means of collecting the same information as we do
- Bugscope Team many insects are far more sensitive to chemical odors than we are
- Bugscope Team ants communication is mostly via chemosensors
- Teacher could you switch it to the ladybug for us...we are having trouble
- Teacher how do they collect the info
Bugscope Team through the setae, and also the sensillae, mostly on their antennae
- Teacher thank you
- Bugscope Team this is a ladybug larva
- Bugscope Team like the caterpillar version of a ladybug before it becomes a cute little beetle
- 9:18am
- Teacher is that fat in the middle and why does it have spikes on the back
- Bugscope Team in the middle we see the thorax, which is the chest area that all of the legs are connected to, as well as the head and the abdomen
- Bugscope Team the spikes on its back are there to protect it from being eaten
- Teacher we have no controls for focus and every thing
Bugscope Team try now
- Bugscope Team caterpillars are the larval insect stages; sometimes the insects produce web from little spinnerettes near their mouths
- Bugscope Team the four things we see now that look like cones are palps
- Teacher thanks and is it a girl or boy and how can u tell
- Bugscope Team with ladybugs we cannot tell from the outside, as far as I know
- Teacher is it for protection
- Bugscope Team with some insects it is easy to tell
- Bugscope Team the palps are for tasting and also for manipulating the food into the mouth
- Bugscope Team with houseflies, the females' eyes are far apart, whereas the males' eyes are almost touching
- 9:23am
- Bugscope Team with earwigs, those with wide curved pincers are males, and those with narrow pincers are females
- Bugscope Team almost all bees, wasps, and ants we see are females
- Bugscope Team this is the mouth of the beetle, looking from the underside of the head
- Bugscope Team insect mouths are very complicated
- Bugscope Team there are two large mandibles that cut into prey or food from the sides
- Bugscope Team there are also what look like two small pairs of mandibles (jaws) here, plus four palps that help the insect taste and maneuver its food into its mouth
- Teacher what is that
- Bugscope Team this is one of the palps; inside are things like tastebuds on your tongue
- Bugscope Team that is how the beetle tastes its food
- 9:29am
- Bugscope Team we can see some dried fluid on the little tastebuds
- Bugscope Team this is almost 26,000 times magnified
- Bugscope Team if there were bacteria here we would see them no problem
- Bugscope Team a micron is the same as a micrometer; a micrometer is one thousandth of a millimeter, or one millionth of a meter
- Teacher how many tastebuds does it have
Bugscope Team it is hard to say; there are four palps like this, but insects can sometimes also taste with setae on other parts of their bodies, and they can also collect chemical signals using their antennae -- tasting the air
- Bugscope Team this is from a butterfly wing, I am not sure which butterfly; the colors were a beautiful blue, with orange eyespots
- Bugscope Team scales have multiple purposes
- Bugscope Team one is to protect their bearer from getting caught in spiderwebs
- Bugscope Team scales are the fine powder that comes off of a moth or butterfly's wing when you stroke it
- 9:34am
- Bugscope Team because they come off so easily, they stick to spiderwebs better than they stick to wings
- Teacher what is that little spot in the middle?
Bugscope Team I don't know what that is -- it is some kind of dirt
- Bugscope Team the shapes of the scales produce colors
- Teacher can scales grow back when they are removed?
Bugscope Team no they do not grow back; when the insect loses enough of them -- they are also kind of like feathers -- it cannot fly anymore
- Bugscope Team often, in the rectangular places we see now, there are pigment granules
- Bugscope Team scales often produce both pigment-derived colors and what are called structural colors, brought about by the shapes and sizes of these ridges
- Teacher are they all the same?
Bugscope Team no they differ according to the color of the part of the wing they are found on
- 9:39am
- Bugscope Team that little piece of debris may be part of the waxy coating some insects have
- Bugscope Team this is another scale, from another insect
- Bugscope Team scales are actually setae as well, just in a different shape
- Bugscope Team the ones without holes in them are sometimes said to be found on more primitive insects
- Teacher how do the slides change?
Bugscope Team what you are doing is driving to a different place on an aluminum sample stub that is about 50 mm in diameter and covered with today's bugs
- Bugscope Team so when you call up one of the presets, the microscope drives to that position on the stage
- Bugscope Team that is why the preset does not always look just like the place to end up -- the sample may have moved a bit
- Bugscope Team 'the place you end up'
- Bugscope Team see its compound eye, now?
- 9:45am
- Bugscope Team the ommatidia -- the individual facets of the compound eye -- are often hexagonal
- Teacher do wasps have simple eyes?
Bugscope Team yes they do! on top of the head
- Bugscope Team the ommatidia are kind of scarred
- Teacher thank you so much....our first class is coming to an end we will be ready with a new group in about 7-10 minutes
Bugscope Team cool!
- Bugscope Team here you can see one of the mandibles, which is like a 'spork'
- Bugscope Team hello Panos!
- 9:51am
- Bugscope Team brb
- Guest hello to anybody there. this is fantastic... i am writing about it in my blog...
Bugscope Team totally cool
- Bugscope Team Panos if you have an questions later, please feel free to write me directly: sjrobin@illinois.edu
- Bugscope Team (Scot)
- Bugscope Team um 'any' questions, of course
- Bugscope Team sometimes we have grad student entomologists on board to help field questions, and usually Cate is on as well
- 9:57am
- Teacher okay new class is here and we are set
- Bugscope Team awesome!
- Bugscope Team welcome back!
- Bugscope Team this is a very small beetle, like a cucumber beetle
- Guest thank you sjrobin
Bugscope Team certainly. Thank you!
- Bugscope Team the front of the face, above the mandible, is called the 'frons'
- Bugscope Team the frons has an indentation in it that we see now
- Bugscope Team you can see two broken sensory setae here, on either side of the indentation
- Bugscope Team oops I closed the page I was on...
- Bugscope Team I need to help someone on another instrument, quickly, and will be right back
- 10:04am
- Teacher what up scot i got a question.....what is the tube like structure on top of the eye?
Bugscope Team oh I am sorry -- I missed it
- Bugscope Team I had to help someone with another microscope
- Teacher scotty mai boi whats the dot on the eye?
Bugscope Team okay I am back to try and help
- Teacher koo kool
Bugscope Team haha
- Bugscope Team these are broken setae
- Bugscope Team mechanosensory setae
- Bugscope Team they are fluted, and with a kind of twisted fluting, pretty cool
- Bugscope Team now we're looking at individual scales on a butterfly's wing
- Bugscope Team this is what seems like powder to us when we rub the wing
- Teacher why do they have scales on there wings?
Bugscope Team they serve multiple purposes
- 10:09am
- Bugscope Team one thing they do is protect the insect when it flies into a spiderweb, by sticking to the web while the insect slips out
- Bugscope Team they also provide color patterns that are recognizable to other butterflies and insects
- Bugscope Team they also function like feathers do on a bird's wing
- Bugscope Team in the little holes we see, we often find pigment granules, but not on this set of scales -- where we're looking now
- Teacher Can scales grow back?
Bugscope Team no they cannot; once an insect has wings, it is an adult, and it does not molt, for example, after that
- Teacher What are the scales made of?
Bugscope Team they are made of chitin, which is a protein kind of like our fingernails
- Bugscope Team the exoskeleton of an insect and many other comparable arthropods is made of chitin
- Bugscope Team it is also called cuticle
- Bugscope Team like a shrimp shell, for example
- Bugscope Team the setae stick through the cuticle, which is kind of like armor, and allow the bug to sense the world
- 10:14am
- Bugscope Team some setae are mechanosensory, like cat or rat whiskers; some are chemosensory, to sense smells; and some are thermosensory, to sense hot/cold
- Teacher What are we looking at...
Bugscope Team this is one of the beetle's claws
- Bugscope Team insects, as adults, have six legs, and they often have claws at the end of each leg
- Teacher What do they use them for?
Bugscope Team kind of like we use our hands -- the grab things and to help hold onto things
- Bugscope Team claws are hardened chitin
- Teacher What are those scale looking things.
Bugscope Team the fine features are the structure of the claw -- having that kind of texture makes the claw more sturdy
- Bugscope Team ants often have similar scale-like features on their exoskeletons
- Bugscope Team we do not see a pulvillus, or pad of fine tenent setae, between the claws
- Bugscope Team if there is no pulvillus, the insect may not have the ability to walk on a ceiling, or even a wall
- Bugscope Team here we see the serrations on the yellowjacket's stinger
- Bugscope Team they help it cut into whatever it is stinging
- 10:19am
- Teacher how many stingers can a yellow jacket have
Bugscope Team only one stinger, but two halves
- Bugscope Team what we see on the stinger is just dirt/debris
- Teacher what is the triangle on the side
Bugscope Team that is a bent seta, perhaps from another part of the yellowjacket's body, like the abdomen
- Bugscope Team this is pretty cool
- Bugscope Team 20 microns is about 10 bacillus bacteria long
- Bugscope Team 10 rod-shaped bacteria
- Bugscope Team if we had bacteria on this sample we would be able to see them easily
- Bugscope Team this claw, or set of claws, has a pulvillus that helps it stick to surfaces
- Bugscope Team the patterned structure we see now, centered, is the unguitractor
- Bugscope Team the unguitractor is a tendon that is connected to an interior muscle
- Bugscope Team when it retracts, the claw closes
- 10:25am
- Teacher are those scalls in the back
Bugscope Team mostly we are seeing the ridges that form the surface of the unguitractor
- Teacher what are the things on the right side
Bugscope Team I think they are remnants of a kind of waxy coating that some insects have
Bugscope Team really I am not sure
- Bugscope Team you can see some large bristles that help the wasp feel when it is touching something
- Bugscope Team some of the bristles, or setae, are for proprioception
- Bugscope Team the pulvillus has lots of what are called tenent setae on it
- Bugscope Team this is pretty cool
- Bugscope Team a female houseflu
- Bugscope Team duh housefly sorry
- Bugscope Team pollen
- Teacher why does the eye have tecture
Bugscope Team those are individual facets of the eye, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team so they are lenses
- Teacher how do we know its a male or female
Bugscope Team because its eyes are far apart
- 10:30am
- Bugscope Team eyes in female flies are far apart, like Uma Thurman's
- Bugscope Team eyes in male flies are close together, like Mikhail Baryshnikov's
- Bugscope Team this is pretty cool
- Teacher what are thorn looking things
- Bugscope Team couple of different kinds of pollen, and the thorn-like things are setae
- Bugscope Team the setae beneath all of this are called microsetae, and they are not sensory
- Bugscope Team this is a kind of pollen we see sometimes
- Bugscope Team I am not sure what kind of pollen it is
- Teacher what would the hairs be used for beside feeling
Bugscope Team sometimes they help with thernoregulation; sometimes they form recognizable patterns that help their own and other species identify them
- 10:35am
- Bugscope Team scales are modified setae
- Bugscope Team oops I see I typed thermoregulation incorrectly
- Teacher are the hairs used for defense
Bugscope Team some of the larger spine-like ones are
- Bugscope Team kind of like porcupine quills
- Bugscope Team dragonflies have spines on their wings that they can use to help shred the wings of other dragonflies or other winged creatures, because they like to fight
- Teacher thank you so much, this group of students really enjoyed this - they are getting ready to go now
- Bugscope Team stinger and ovipositor
- Bugscope Team ichneumon wasp
- 10:40am
- Teacher what are those things in the back round?
- Bugscope Team the stuff under the abdomen is silver paint, globbed up
- Bugscope Team a lot of the bubbles in the background are features on the carbon tape
- Bugscope Team here you can see brochosomes, which are nanoparticles that come from leafhoppers
- Bugscope Team they are usually 250 to 400 nanometers in diameter
- Bugscope Team if you are done, we can close down now...
- Bugscope Team Thank you, Panos, for connecting today
- Bugscope Team and Thank You STEM, and Mikayla, and IT
- 4:48pm
- Guest very nice initiative!
- 4:55pm
- Guest well, tose are types of brochosomes?
