1. This is a rare piece. First there is a twig (or the remains of a twig) going through the amber. But much more importantly, there is a Bristletail, Apterygota, Zygentoma. These are wingless true insects. This particular one is fairly good sized. A superb example of a Bristletail in Baltic amber.

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2. About as nice as it gets. A perfect shape with wonderful clarity and size. The beauty contains a very large spider. The spider - legs to leg is almost one half an inch - that is large for a spider in amber. You will enjoy the images of this monster.

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3. Here is a very rare beauty. It is a mayfly, Ephemeroptera. Mayfly adults (such as this one) have life spans of no more than a few days. On the transition from nymph to adult, they fly from the surface of the water for mating, but do not feed. They complete the mating process and die with in a day or two. Mayflies in amber are very rarely found in amber. As you can see from the images, this is a nice mayfly.

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5. This leg pattern is called pennation, pennaceus meaning feathered. This character is found in the Empididae (Diptera); this genus is Empis, the females hold up the legs to the abdomen when flying so as to look full of eggs to attract the males. Dance flies have interesting swarm behavior, often this time of year. While the piece of amber is not particularly impressive, the 40 million year old fly is.

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6. This is a great piece. Nice size and with lots organic debris that makes a piece so interesting. On the clear side is a nice caddis fly, Tricoptera. You will enjoy this piece for a long time.

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7. This is a large piece of Baltic amber. It has a large amount of what looks like wood bits or some other organic material strewn around the piece. Interesting design.

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8. Large piece of Baltic amber, very clear and good color. There is a small planthopper, Homptera, Fulgoridea that can easily be seen, but this also has the remains of a spider's web going throughout the piece - very cool.

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9. Damselfly in Baltic amber - an impossibly rare find. This one has its own web page.

10. Large piece of amber. There is a nice sized caddis fly off to one side. It really does look like a moth, but I cannot find the extended proboscis and thus will ID it as a caddis fly.

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11. This is a single unknown leaflet from some plant. The leaflet is full and the amber is rather flat. This is a good botanical specimen.

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12. A beautiful piece of amber. Very clear with a large fly near one edge. The fly has just wonderful markings - the eyes - just plain impressive. This is a really good piece.

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13. This is a large piece of amber, reminds me of a pebble one would pick up. There is a very large fungus gnat, Diptera, Mycetophilidae. It is a sharp piece.

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14. I am not that good with Millipedes but I think this is in the family Julidae (Myriapoda: Diplopoda). Julidae inhabit the top soil, occasionally penetrating deeper into the ground in search of food. For this reason, the species use their numerous serial legs to develop a propulsive power as a bulldozer. A beautiful millipede, fully there and so easy to see. These are fairly rare in Baltic amber, especially this well preserved. It looks like he is just about ready to 'walk' away. There is also a bubble of water (I am assuming it is water) in another bubble. It also appears that there may be a mite next to the millipede.

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15. A very nice specimen, this is a clear piece of amber with a scuttle fly, Diptera, Phoridae. You'll like this piece.

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16. Nice clear piece, that has a nymph of a long-horned Orthoptera, Ensifera (cricket). On this type, the jumping muscle is located on the swollen femur. These can make a sound by rubbing the two stridulating organs located at the base of the front wings.

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17. Preying Mantis with it's own web page - beautiful.

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18. Great looking caddis fly, Trichoptera. There is a lot of organic debris, but the caddis fly is still very easily seen.

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19. Good sized piece of Baltic amber with a nice fly, Diptera, Brachycera, at one edge. Easily seen this piece is long and has good thickness

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20. A wonderful example of a planthopper, Homptera, Fulgoridea. The amber is clear, great color and a nice sized planthopper. Good piece.

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21. A very rare piece of the Cypress family, Cupressaceae, a Thuites twig. Twigs are seldom found in Baltic amber since they decay so rapidly. This particular piece has a very nice twig - almost an inch long. Very nice, very impressive for a collection.

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22. Very clear with great color, this piece of amber has 2 files, Diptera, Brachycera that show a great amount of detail.

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23. Interesting piece -there is a moth fly in this amber, Diptera, Nematocera: Psychodidae. Moth flies are small, hairy flies with bead-like antennal segments. The wings are generally hairy with many equally spaced, parallel veins. These are rare in Baltic amber (fairly common in Dominican.)
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24. Big piece of Baltic amber. It has a number of gnats and midges in it - but the kicker is the crane fly, Diptera, Tipulidae. Extremely large with some of the longest legs I've seen in a while. This is a very impressive piece.

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25. A fly, Diptera, Brachycera in a nice piece of Baltic amber. This is a large piece with a face that only a mother could love.

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26. 2 flies in amber. I am not sure of the type of fly that is here - although one is unusual. Nice piece at a great price.

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27. I know this deserves a page of it's own. In fact here it is. This piece is one of those pieces that is just plain hard to believe. Inside this 40 to 50 million old piece of Baltic amber is mammalian hair. Tons of mammalian hair. Strands upon strands in this clump. Umpteen million years ago, a mammal leaned up against the tree and when it pulled away from the tree, left a chunk of it's hair entangled in the sticky tree sap. When you look at the hairs, it is just unbelievable. There is also what looks like a dark winged fungus gnat mixed in some of the hairs. You will never see something like this again. Enjoy the pictures. This is a one in a million piece.

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28. Although I am not 100% sure about this, I do think it is a froghopper (spittlebug). Superfamily Cercopoidea do not have any veins visible in the clavus and are extremely rare in Baltic amber. This is a perfectly shaped piece with a large froghopper.

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