Webspinner in amber - Embioptera

Embioptera - Webspinner

Webspinners in amber are very rare. Very few are found in Baltic or Dominican ambers. They seem to be the crowning glory in anyone's collection.

The primary feature of webspinners is their snakelike heads, with forelegs short and stout. Webspinners have glands on theirfront legs that emit silk to line the galleries in debris and under bark. The also build their colonies on lichens and moss.

The males of most species are winged. The females, always wingless, are excellent mothers that take care of their young in the web.

At the end of their abdomen are 2 short tails (cerci), usually asymmetrical in the male and almost always so in the female. Most webspinners found in amber are male and may be mistaken for small termites. When disturbed, webspinners often feign death but on occasion can move very rapidly, usually running backwards.

Now, not only do we offer you one, but here we offer you a pair.

We have 2 pieces of amber, one with a male and one with a female. We cannot impress upon you how rare this is. A male would be rare, a female unheard of, both a male and female - never!

There are a number of pictures of both the male and female.

Here are the pictures of the male:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Scanned image of the amber

Here are the pictures of the female:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Scanned image of the amber

We cannot stress to you how rare of a find it is to have a male - or even better the rarer female - BUT both, just unbelievable. We are selling the two pieces of amber together - we are not splitting up this pair.

Postage for amber will usually cost $5.35 (USD Priority Mail in the USA) or 1st class mail anywhere in the world. There may be exceptions to this. We will get your sample to you as soon as possible (usually mailed the same day or at worst, the next day). U.S. orders go out by Priority Mail, overseas as Air Mail. Books are normally mailed "Media Mail", unless they are light, in which case they are mailed first class. Overseas books are air mail unless the weight is prohibitive, in which case you will have the option of surface (ship) or paying a bit extra for air mail. All prices are in U.S. dollars. If you are overseas and want something other than normal air mail - contact us when you make the purchase. For any questions, please contact us at sales@ambericawest.com.

Our emails are sent immediately, so if you don't receive it, it is likely caught in a spam filter. You will receive another email when your order ships which will contain the shipping information.

You can pay 3 ways, either by credit card (located on each page as the 'buy now' button), a personal check, or purchase order.

Finally, if you feel more comfortable, feel free to call us at 719-488-2654 (this is in the United States). This number works as a fax if you would like to fax your request or purchase order.

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