Sometimes I just find the impossible piece. This is a pendant with a beehive inside. Near the top of the pendant are several cells from the hive and filling up the rest are the tropical stingless bees, Hymenoptera, Family Apidae:Meliponini, Genus Proplebeia, species dominicana. You will never see anything like this again. Imagine having a bee hive hanging from your neck - on top of that, one that is 20 million years old.
Probably the nicest and clearest roach, Orthoptera, Blattidae, I have ever seen. About 1/2 inch in size, and the clarity is magnificent. I believe that this is an adult wood cockroach. Fossils in amber are seen, but are normally rather incomplete. There are flagellates inside cockroaches' alimentary systems for the digestion of things they eat, but these microbes would in turn devour their bodies once they die. This is a museum piece.
This is a giant (almost 10 pounds) piece of amber from Sumatra, Indonesia. It is magnificent. With Sumatran amber, fossils are seldom found. That is normally because the amber is not clear like Dominican or Baltic or Mexican. You cannot see into it to check for fossils. But this piece is different, there is a very large leaf impression on the top surface of this piece. The leaf impression is about 4 inches long. In fact, there is another leaf impression that goes into the amber just off to the petiole of the big leaf. This is an amazing piece of amber. So large, so rare with the leaf impression - the highlight of anyone's collection.
Now this is cool: Scientists have exhumed the body of Gregory Mendell and are using it for DNA studies. Also DNA sequencing!
Jorge Caridad
Above: Picture of Doug Lundberg and Jorge Caridad in a fossil shop, Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Caridad is the owner of the Amber World Museum in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Picture above: Wolfgang Weitschat, Kazimieras Mizgiris and Doug Lundberg
Join the AMBER list:There now is a discussion group devoted to the study of amber. The intent of this discussion is public discourse on amber formation, types, general questions, almost anything that relates to amber. Also encouraged on this discussion group will be questions on jewelry making, and web sites about amber. The discussion group is not moderated. This means that all postings will go through without moderation (no one will censor them.) This is an international group, covering just about any country you can imagine (some of which I have never heard of!) Most people just watch and listen to the discussions that go on. You are encouraged to participate, but certainly do not need to. Click here Join the AMBER list This discussion group was formed and is maintained by Doug Lundberg. His e-mail address is lundberg@ambericawest.com. All questions about the discussion group should be directed to him. Short article in the International Amber Association's magazine "Bursztynisko, the AMBER MAGAZINE" |
Scientific American, February 2020, had a picture showing the land continents with major ‘discoveries’ (page 20). One arrow pointed to Brazil and under that, it said:
“Despite the long dry spells in Brazil’s Caatinga region, scientists found the tree Hymenaea cangaceira drizzles copious nectar from flowers to attract pollinating bats: a full-sized tree can release 240 gallons of the stuff, with 38 distinct scent compounds, over a single dry season.”
Here is the reason for this inclusion on this amber page. Hymenaea is the tree in New Zealand that produces copious amounts of resin that is called ‘kauri gum’. Not sure about this relationship, but if I am a betting person (I am), I would put money that there is a direct relationship between the flowers and resin production.
____________________________________
Article from Science News about "Spider moms have been caring for their young for a long time."
Amberica West just sold the largest piece of amber in the world to the Amber Museum in Poland (68 Kg):
A View from Amberica WestThis is a view of the rocky mountains.
You can see Pikes Peak in the background and the
United States Air Force Academy somewhere near the middle.
