Lizard in Colombian Amber (Copal)

Colombian Copal Pages
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Rare Colombian Lizard
While there is apparently much controversy over copal Vs amber (is copal really amber and where is the line drawn?) - none-the-less here is a beautiful lizard. I am not sure which type of lizard it is, but will take a guess at a gecko. The lizard is 100% intact and is in excellent shape. It does not touch the sides, but is fully enclosed in the Colombian copal. The lizard is small, about .75 inches long.

The detail is particularly good. You can see the feet, the eyes, and the scales on the skin. Getting animals trapped in sticky resin is just fine if you are a light and weak animal (butterfly or ant), but to have a lizard trapped is a VERY rare event. This lizard probably was trapped because it is small and did not have the strength to pull itself from the resin flow.

No matter how you slice the resin, this is a rare event. Lizards in amber (or copal) can be counted around the world. It is just so unusual that this type of specimen is coveted. You will certainly have that special piece to add to anyone's collection - copal yet!

This copal is fairly old, because of it's color and hardness, we believe it may be Pliocene or Pleistocene. The Colombian copal that is offered for sale is from the Andes Mountains in South America. It could be up to 16 million years old. Since I have not had it tested for time, I cannot conclusively say the age.
How old is other Colombian Copal? The age of Colombian (South America) copal still remains an open question. In fact in some papers you can find uncertain "Tertiary" age (see for example the table in Langenheim's review, American Scientist, 78:16-24, 1990), or in other papers also Pliocene-Pleistocene; accurate determinations made by means of 14C revealed that Colombian copal from the region of Santander is in the order of just 200 years old (Clifford et al., Org. Geochemistry, 27:449-464, 1997), practically recent resin. There are others who feel that certain Colombian copals are in the terms of many millions of years.

If you look closely at the feet and the body you will see some of the finest detail in an animal that you will ever see. It is a remarkable animal to be preserved so well. Enjoy the show. Of course there are many other animals in this piece. There are many gnats and midges, some flies, a large ant, 1 platypodidae beetle, a robber fly and just a boat load of others. This is just so fun to look at, there is always something new. Yesterday I just found a winged termite. Each time I look at the lizard, it seems like something else jumps out. Because it is so well preserved, I suspect that its last meal is still in the stomach!

Scanned Image

$5,900
SOLD

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