Chiapas Amber (Mexico)

Item 1

This is an interesting offer.  We just picked up about 68 strands of Mexican amber to be used as jewelry.  There are as shown in the photos. As you can tell from the photos, they do need the clasp applied, but for re-selling, you cannot beat this deal.  We can sell them one at a time,  10, 20, 30 or all 68.  If you want quantities (10 or more), give me a email and we might be able to cut a deal depending upon how may you want.  In small quantities, they are $6.50 each.

Scanned Image!

All 68 for $340 ($5.00 each)

Item 2

Now this is interesting.  At first glance I thought this might be a worm.  Upon closer examination I thought this might be a roundworm, Nematoda.  Finally I cannot decide since it may be part of a plant.  But this is a cool piece!  Wow, it draws the eye to it.  Not particularly large, about 1/2 inch in diameter - this would make a perfect ring or a center to a necklace.  It is eye catching.

Scanned Image

$97

Item 3

This is truly an amazing piece of amber.  This variety of planthopper occurs in the amber forest.  This representative of the family Delphacidae (Homoptera) did not have time to retract is wings and thus is a beauty to beholdHere is a video.

Scanned Image!

$239

Item 4

4sm.jpg

Earwigs are rare - very rare in amber.  But here is the jackpot - you can see the wings! It is not difficult at all to identify earwigs, as they have scissor-like tails, this one appears to be a female.  This is the first time I have ever been lucky enough to see the wings wide open - just an extremely rare event.  Needless to say, this is a fine specimen and as rare as they get.

Saw a short article in Science News about the wings of an earwig.

Scanned Image!

$290

Item 5

An interesting piece.  I does contain a small mayfly, order Ephemeroptera.   You can see the two cerci in the back.  There is also a very nice 'unknown' (I am just not sure on this one).  Finally there are two small wasps, one is a eulopid wasp, Hymenoptera, Eulophidae and the other is unknown.

Scanned Image!

$99

Item 6

Hard to believe, but this is real.  It is a terrestrial snail in Chiapas amber.   My guess is that this is a Spiraxis snail .  A birds may have seized the snail and then lit it drop into the resin.   This is a round piece, almost .5 inches in diameter.  Snails are VERY rare and seldom seen in amber.   On top of that, the sphere as a presentation piece is even better.  By the way, there is a headless ant - probably done during a 'war'.

Scanned Image

$464

Item 7

I hate it when I cannot ID an insect - even at a 'high' level.   I think this might be a Isopod, Isopoda - maybe even in the family Sphaeroniscidae.  But I 'gotta' tell you, that is a wild guess.  This guy is curled up in a tight ball.

Scanned Image

$106

Item 8

A little different, this is a carving of Mexican (Chiapas) amber.  This is a cougar that has successfully gone on a hunt and is now 'enjoying' his/her daily hunting.  A wonderful piece that shows great artistry in the carving.  The leopard is on a slate backing. It is about 3.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches.

 

$580

Item 9

One of the nicest pendants I've seen. This is large with organic swirls swimming in the amber. The art work in this piece is impressive. This is a treasure that will be yours forever.

Scanned Image

$98

Item 10

I love this piece.  Here is a worker ant that no one in their right minds would bother.  The jaws on this guy are just plain impressive.  This is a trap door ant, Hymenoptera, Formicidae:Ponerinae.   Trap door ants have jaws that will close at 145 mpg.  These ants are rarely found in amber, an even rarely found in such good shape - this one is perfect.  There is a nice piece of wood near the head of this defender ant.

Scanned Image

$790

Item 11

This is a beautiful carving of Chiapas amber as a tropical bird.  About 3.5 inches in size, this carving will warm anyone's heart.   Perfectly done, there are no errors anywhere on the carving.

Scanned Image

$178

Item 12

Now this is a very special piece of amber.  It is so seldom that one finds a mosquito in amber.  Mosquitoes are not attracted to the aromatic 'cast offs' of resins.  They are attracted by CO2 and heat.  So it is seldom that one finds these elusive creatures in amber.  This piece of amber has at least 6 mosquitoes - they must have been on a foraging rampage and all were trapped in the sticky resins from the tree.  I have never seen anything like this before.  I once saw 2 mosquitoes in amber, never 3 or 4 or even 6.  Good sized piece of amber with an unbelievable load.  Now there is more also -  an unusual ant, Hymenoptera that has great detailing on its dorsal side (back).  Finally there are some unusual crushed air bubbles, at least that is how I will describe them.

Scanned Image

$1,800

Item 13

A rather 'guitar pick", thick sized piece of Chiapas amber with a nice cricket, Orthoptera.  Lots of forest debris and a few other animals, but the main thing is the centrally placed cricket. Good piece.

Scanned Image

$138

Item 14

This is a big chunk of amber.  It weighs 42 grams and man is it loaded.  By far, the biggest ticket item is the Whip-scorpion, Order Amblypygi.  It is a large animal in this amber, not only large, but VERY rare. Its first pair of legs are thin and long as a whip; little is known about their function.  If you are a whip-scorpion expert, you might be able to ID this animal by the pedipalpal patella: they are unusual, even for this rare animal.  The animal is abut 3/4 inch long.  Tailless whip-scorpions have a normal habitat in the tropical rain forests, they are rarely ever found in amber.  But there is even more here.  Off on the other side is a large cricket and near the cricket is the head of an ant who must have been in a battle.....and lost.  There is what looks like the remains of a spider and  some more remains that I cannot identify. Also there are a few other ants, different species.  One of which has the thinnest and longest legs I have ever seen.  There is the back end of a silverfish. If you haven't figured it out by now, this is a very special piece of amber, large with very rare animals. 

 

Scanned Image

 

$2,433

Item 15

I think this is a toe-winged beetle, Coleoptera, Ptilodactylidae.   This is a very uncommon beetle to find in amber.  This is most likely a male since the antennae are pectinate.  These antennae are particularly large and branched.  The details of the wings are very impressive.  In fact everything about this beetle is impressive.  Not far from the beetle is a nice large leaf.  This is a really good piece.

Scanned Image

$885

Item 16

16sm.jpg

This is different, here is a piece of amber that shows the results of shipworms (Pholadidae, Bivalvia)---- really.  These animals are lithophages, that  is they need hard substrate to feed on.  It can be either a stone or wood or even plastic for some species.   The conical things with spherical ends are just the trace of activities of those animals.  So the trace begins with a small holes and the animal grow inside it.  Each time it is grows it eats the substrate beneath and as it is growing in size so the galleries are conical shaped. The animal should lives in the spherical end which grows toward the center of the substrate, that is why you see scratches of radula as the animal acts like a drill. Moreover you can be sure after seeing the traces of the radula (scratches). Those traces are surface borings filled later by the sediments where the bored amber pebble was finally deposited.

As far as I know there is only 1 Pholadidae identified in Baltic amber, a number have been ID in Burmese amber and there is one paper on the Pholadidae in Chiapas amber.   This is rare - as rare as they get. It is my opinion that this will serve as a holotype for a new type (I think).

Scanned Image

OUT ON LOAN

Item 17

Good sized piece of Chiapas amber.  This has a petiole from a leaf along with what looks like a wasp (although I am not sure on this one).  Attractive and a particularly nice specimen.

Scanned Image

$145

Item 18

I thought number 17 (just above) was large, this is double the size.  There are two beautiful leaves in this piece.  Scattered around are 3 winged termites, Isoptera and a spider.  What a piece this is.  At the edge of a leaf are a number of unknown, seemingly botanical, emanations.

Scanned Image

$290

Item 19

Coleoptera, family Pyrochroidae, this is a fire-colored beetle.  "Pyro" in Greek means "fire".  The antennae comb-like in males, or rarely thread-like in females.  This is a male.  You do not run across these very often.

Scanned Image

$155

Item 20

There is just something cool about spiders.    This has a detailed spider off to the side, easily seen without a microscope.   Also, there is what looks like a shed on the other side.  A good piece.

Scanned Image

$120

Item 21

This is one of those pieces that is unbelievable.  The first thing that catches your eye is the giant leaf.  This leaf is big, no I would say huge.   This is the largest leaf I have ever seen.  The piece itself is about 4 inches x 3 inches x .5 inches.  This is a monster piece - the type of piece you place on your desk for others to see.  No microscope needed here.  

Not only is the leaf huge and utterly impressive, but there is so many insects in this piece that you know the swarm landed here and never left.  There must be many hundreds of gnats all over.  Also, there is the occasional antimmature planthopper and even some sheds of spiders (not sure if they are spiders) and even a termite .  I even saw a small flower in this.  The longer you look at it, the more you see.  

I would consider this to be the cap stone of any collection.

 

OUT ON LOAN

Item 22

This is a VERY unusual situation.  There are 3 pseudoscorpions attached to the under side of the poor fly.   Very seldom does one get to see even 1 pseudoscorpion attached to an insect - much less 3.  Truly a rare event to see and even rarer in amber.  Pseudoscorpions by themselves go for hundreds of dollars.  3 attached to a fly  is a situation that we have never seen before.  This is called a phoretic association and it is quite likely a necessary situation for the pseudoscorpion - for both food (such as mites on the fly) or moving localities.  

The pseudoscorpions are hard to see.  One is attached to the mid section and kid of hangs down,  one is attached to the posterior area and there is a difficult one to see that is between he two and on top.  The amber is large, about 3 inches x 1.5 inches x .5 inches and very clear.

There are a few small parasitic wasps and gnats

On top of all that, note that the wings are in such fine shape that they actually show the wing pattern on them.  Finally the head shows unbelievable detail.  3 pseudoscorpions with a perfect fly is an unheard-of situation.  You will not see this anywhere else but here. 

Scanned Image

$1,190

Item 23

Beautiful piece with a large leaf.  One and a half inches in length, this will be the 'biggie' in anyone's collection.  One side has numerous air bubbles, obscuring the leaf, the other side screams 'leaf'.   The entire piece is large and impressive.  There is the remnant of a spider and a very small leaf beetle. Here are 2 very short videos of the leaf.

Scanned Image

$326

Item 24

A great piece of Chiapas amber that has a green tone to it.  Green is rather rare.  I was told that the  light colored area is a genus of true oysters in the family Crassostrea.  While I can see why the miner said that, I have my doubts.  This piece weights a whopping 196 grams.  It is almost 5 x 3 x 1 inches....so this is a very large chunk.

Scanned Image

$784

Item 25

A wonderful piece of Chiapas amber with distinct and beautiful colors.    Good sized piece (no insects in this one).

Scanned Image

$57

Item 26

Fascinating flower.  It looks like a wispy 3-D flower.  (I am assuming it is a flower.)    Definitely botanical in nature, it is hard to believe such a delicate structure was preserved in this manner.

Scanned Image

$66

Item 27

A nice sized, clear piece of Chiapas amber with a single fly inside.  Visible without a microscope (not huge since these flies are small normally) this is a beautiful piece.  It has a small wasp also.

Scanned Image

$115

Item 28

This is an amazing piece.  It is a seed.  We are in Colorado and when you walk through fields, it not uncommon to pick up "burs" that stick to your socks or pant legs.  Pulling them off hurts since they have spines.  This does appear to be such a thing.  It is the first time we have ever seen a large seed like this and it will probably be the last.  I am sure that the plant seed inside the 'poky' covering is not viable, but it is fun to think about what would happen if you planted one.  This is one heck of a piece of amber.

Scanned Image

2nd Scanned Image

$790

Item 29

I love leaves in amber.  It is particularly fun to image a leaf floating down and accidentally landing in a blob of sticky resin.  Then that leaf is covered by another resin flow.  This is an entire leaf.  Really fun to look at, this is a rather rare piece.  Full leaves just do not happen very often.  This is a great leaf - and the caliper that show in the picture to the left comes with the amber.  The amber is from the Chiapas area in Mexico.

Scanned Image

$210

Item 30

You are going to like this one.  The piece is small and has a single petal that is beautiful.

Scanned Image

 

$72

Item 31

Isopods have seven pair of legs, corresponding to the last seven thoracic segments.  Isopods, together with shrimps, crabs, lobsters and water fleas are crustaceans.  They dwell in damp environments such as river banks, beaches, or inhabit tree stumps and humus.  The specimen is one of the finest that I have ever seen.  It is museum quality.  While I do not know my Isopods well, I will guess it is in the family Sphaeroniscidae.  I would even guess that this genus is not known.  Needless to say Isopods are rare in amber, perfect ones are almost impossible.  This is perfect.  There is what looks like half of a platypodid beetle.

Scanned Image

$819

Item 32

 

Inside this large piece are a number of large female worker ants, Hymenoptera, Formicidae.  Most are curled up and everything is very visible.  there are a lot of ants here.  One side of the piece offers an easier view of the ants.

Scanned Image

$148

Item 33

 

I love pieces like this.  I know there is a story here, but cannot really determine what it is.  One half of this piece is full of mammalian hair or plant parts.  I am not sure which, my guess is plant parts - but it does look like hair.  The other side has a midge and a rough leafhopper.

Scanned Image

$133

Item 34

 

Here is a leaf from the amber tree that became lodged in the sticky resin and now has shown up million of years later.  While the leaf shows well, there are some areas that are obscured.

Scanned Image Side A

Scanned Image Side B

$122

Copyright © 2024 Amberica West - All rights reserved.

(719) 258-9319

  • twitter logo
  • facebook logo
  • email logo