Connected on 2013-05-28 13:00:00 from Leon, Florida, United States
- 12:08pm
- Bugscope Team sample is pumping down for today's session
- 12:17pm
- 12:23pm
- 12:29pm
- 12:38pm
- 12:45pm
- 12:51pm
- 12:58pm
- Bugscope Team hello! Welcome to Bugscope!
- Teacher Hello Bugscope
- Bugscope Team we're securing the last few presets for you
- Teacher Thank you
- Bugscope Team pollen!
- Teacher Whoa
- Bugscope Team this is pollen from a lily
- 1:03pm
- Bugscope Team we're done with the presets, so you are welcome to drive if you would like
- Teacher Is that from our bee sample?
Bugscope Team Cate put it to complement everything else. The bees also have pollen on them.
- Bugscope Team when we get up close we see charging from places where the electrons cannot escape from the sample
- Bugscope Team so it does not always look good...
- Bugscope Team that's what the bright glow is from
- Bugscope Team in our experience lily pollen looks like this
- Teacher What are the cracks under the pollen?
Bugscope Team that is the surface of the carbon doublestick tab the specimens are attached to
- 1:08pm
- Bugscope Team you can see its antennae, the labrums, the glossa
- Bugscope Team you can see its compound eye now
- Bugscope Team and the antenna...
- Teacher What is the highest magnification we can use?
Bugscope Team today probably around 20,000x before things start charging up
- Bugscope Team the setae on the eye are likely mostly mechanosensory; some could be chemosensory
- Teacher What are the hairs on the eye?
Bugscope Team those are setae, which are hairs. We call them setae because they aren't mammalian hairs
Bugscope Team these are sensory hairs, these are most likely sensing changes in wind speeds/direction etc...(mechanosensory)
- 1:13pm
- Teacher Why do the compound eyes have the hexagon shape?
Bugscope Team that is the most efficient shape for generally circular lenses in a dome-like configuration
- Teacher Any idea what these things are stuck to the setae?
Bugscope Team some of the things we saw earlier were pollen; this looks like a shriveled mold spore.
- Bugscope Team mold spores are usually smaller than pollen, less spikey, and also more likely to shrivel as they dry
- Bugscope Team this is cool
- Bugscope Team different kinds of pollen and mold spores
- Bugscope Team the mold spore that looks like a gumdrop in the center back (top) portion of this view has a tiny mold spore next to it that looks like an amphora
- Bugscope Team oops now we're at a higher mag
- Bugscope Team bacteria, if we see them, are usually about 2 microns long
- 1:18pm
- Teacher What is an amphora?
Bugscope Team one of those jugs you see underwater near an ancient shipwreck
- Bugscope Team blunted stinger
- Teacher What is the starfish-thing next to it?
Bugscope Team flying spaghetti monster
Bugscope Team lol
Bugscope Team some sort of plant material I think
- Bugscope Team we see those often but are not sure what they are
- Bugscope Team we think they are plant material that gets blown around, dispersed, before settling and growing into a plant
- Bugscope Team it may be that wasp stingers are less barbed, but wasps sometimes need to be able to secure their stingers in their prey sometimes
- Teacher Is it normal for the bee to be barbed but not the wasp?
Bugscope Team we see both
Bugscope Team yea, most stingers are barbed, it's just that the stinger barb is more pronounced in honey bees, which leads to the stinger getting stuck more easily
- 1:24pm
- Bugscope Team honeybee stingers get caught in mammalian skin, which is thick; when honeybees sting other insects they do not lose their stingers
- Bugscope Team microsetae
- Bugscope Team the compound eye
- Bugscope Team some large hornets can have as many as 17,000 ommatidia (the eye facets) per eye; dragonflies can have as many as 32,000 ommatidia per eye
- 1:29pm
- Teacher Where does the food go in?
Bugscope Team I am not sure how these work; they have a tongue that is absorbent
- Bugscope Team the tube is a broken-off maxillary palp
- Bugscope Team palps are accessory mouthparts, like little feelers or extra limbs that help insects taste and manipulate food
- Bugscope Team this is pretty cool
- Bugscope Team plus they (bees, wasps, hornets, and dragonflies) have three simple eyes, called ocelli, on the top of the head
Bugscope Team the ocelli is sensitive to changes in light, and so can aid in stabilising flight and motion detection.
- 1:34pm
- Teacher I wonder why some pollen grains are less complex than others.
- Bugscope Team some have to travel further than others, and some have different landing surfaces to attach to on flowers
- Bugscope Team the stigma on different plants are as distinct as the pollen that sticks to them
- Bugscope Team on different flowers...
- 1:40pm
- Bugscope Team this is a great opportunity to see what the inside of the antenna looks like
- Bugscope Team bees are unlike other insects in that they have forked setae -- forked hairs -- on some parts of their bodies
- Bugscope Team the chemosensors sense the chemicals others make, like chemical trails
- Teacher Why are there separate sections of the antenna?
Bugscope Team that is so they can bend
- Teacher Our beekeeper just walked into the room. She collected the bees for us.
- Bugscope Team the little plate-like things we saw at higher mag are chemosensors called placoid sensillae
- Bugscope Team oh cool!
- Bugscope Team this is the tibia
- Bugscope Team was the darker (blackish) one a bee or a wasp?
- 1:45pm
- Bugscope Team the setae on the compound eye also likely have a thermoregulatory function
- Bugscope Team hamuli!
- Teacher Is it a mating structure?
- Teacher What are hamuli?
Bugscope Team they're hooks that hook the wings together, so that they're beating in tune.
Bugscope Team on bees, the hooks are on the hindwings
- Bugscope Team hamuli are found on the leading edge of the hindwing, and they clip to a ridge on the forewing when the bee (or wasp) flies
- Bugscope Team bees and wasps and ants, if they have wings, have four wings
- 1:50pm
- Bugscope Team some wasps have much smaller clips
- Teacher Can you help us look at a wing?
- Bugscope Team yes!
- Teacher to the wing!
- Bugscope Team this is one of the hindwings
- Bugscope Team you can see microsetae on the surface of the wing
- Teacher Would there be any parasites of other pests in our speciemens?
- Bugscope Team your bees did a really good job pollinating. They are everywgere
- Bugscope Team where*
- Teacher or on...
- Bugscope Team we didn't notice any mites
- 1:56pm
- Teacher Do the projections help with aerodynamics?
Bugscope Team Jose is an entomologist, and he may know; I think that the projections help keep the wings from sticking to flat surfaces when they are wet
Bugscope Team I do not know the answer to this question.
- Bugscope Team microsetae may also strengthen the wing, and they likely also help trap air and create more surface area
- Teacher You all are awesome. We've learned so much. We have a classmate named Jose.
- Bugscope Team awesome!
- Bugscope Team Sweet!
- Teacher o_0 We had a great time!
- Bugscope Team thanks for sending us the cool bees! Be sure to let your beekeeper know
- Bugscope Team great! glad you guys enjoyed it.
- Teacher Bugscope is a great program. We will do it again in the future.
Bugscope Team it is super fun for us; we appreciate it
