Baltic Amber
Item 29
I know cockroaches, Blattidae, are repulsive, but there is something about them that you just have to take that second look. I think think one is just great. There is a cockroach scuttling off to the side trying to get away.
Item 30
Here ispiece of Baltic amber, 54 million years old with no animals. But wait - there is a fantastic thing inside - part of a spider's web. Lots of the web is strewn about, it even looks like a small insect is wrapped up in part. Spiders webs are rare and hard to find. This is a nice one. If you like these half as much as I do, you will love this ancient piece of amber.
Item 31
There is just something cool about plant material in amber. At first I thought this might be stamens in a flower, but upon closer examination, this does look like a bit of a stem that has been ripped open. Nice piece.
Item 32
Thisis a mayfly, Ephemeroptera. Mayfly adults (such as this adult male) 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 any amber are very rarely found . This is a beautiful animal and so seldom seen. Life of only a day or two.............
Item 33
This is a great piece. A beauty of a fly, diptera, Brachycera. Good detail in this fly. Strange shape, but very nice piece.
Item 34
Nice sized piece of amber. This has a female worker ant, Hymenoptera, Formicidae along with something that looks like part of a flower (not sure). There is a bunch of wood fibers scattered around. There are other animals in this also (but not as easy to see).
Item 35
This is a great piece, good sized and very clear. There is one animal in it which can be seen well.....a female worker ant, Hymenoptera, Formicidae. I think this is a leaf cutter ant. You will like this piece.
SOLD
Item 36
You are going to love this. Inside this small piece of Baltic amber are the remains of a spider web. You can see how it was rolled and imbedded in the sticky resin 50 million years ago. Please also remember that you need a magnifying glass or microscope to see this - with the naked eye, you will not see it.
Item 37
A really cool piece of amber. This is only a medium sized piece (see scanned image) but it has the remains of a spider web inside it. Very unique and rather rare to find such a piece.
Item 38
There is a lot here, but the main thing is the body (and legs) of a crane fly, Diptera:Nematocera, Limoniidae. This is a nice piece.
Item 39
You will love this piece. There is a pseudoscorpion at one end of the piece. Pseudoscorpions are small and rarely seen. This is a nice one. Also there is a fly, Brachycera and what I think is a fungus gnat, Mycetophilidae. Finally there is a good sized unknown animal.
SOLD
Item 40
A slender springtail, Collembola, Entomobryidae. Species in this family may be heavily scaled and can be very colorful. These are not common in amber (they are small animals.)
Item 41
Nice looking chunk of Baltic amber. Inside this is a tumbling flower beetle, Coleoptera, Mordellidae. When being pursued, they tumble about in a comical fashion.
Item 43
This is also a hand carved piece of Baltic amber. This is a frog, about the same size as the turtle above (about 1 inch long).
SOLD
Item 44
Nice sized, flattish piece with an unknown insect. This does have a lovely male scale insect (small), Hemiptera, Coccidea:Matsuccide. Nice looking oak stellate hairs
Item 45
Smallish piece of Baltic amber. There are about four primitive flies in this piece - really fun to look at, Nematocera. But wait, there is more. I suspect that the picture on this page would get your attention. This has a fairly large twisted wing parasite (for twisted wings that is) fly, Strepsiptera. UNBELIEVABLE. These are very rare. By the way, this is Baltic amber.
They are endoparasites in other insects, such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. Most species of females never emerge from the host after entering its body, but finally die inside it. The early-stage larvae do emerge because they must find an unoccupied living host, and the short-lived males must emerge to seek a receptive female in her host.
To the uninitiated the males superficially look like flies. Adult males are very short-lived, usually surviving less than five hours, and do not feed. This is a male twisted wing. Probably on of the finest specimens of twisted wing parasites I have ever seen (I have seen 4 in my lifetime).
Item 46
Item 47
There is some good looking plant material in this one. At first glance it looks live a Venus Fly Trap (it is not). There is also an unknown Dipteran.
Item 48
Protective case of the Trichoptera larva. If you look attentively you can see the head of the larva which tries to get off the cover. That is my best guess - on the other hand it could be a larvae in a larvae case (Lepidoptera) - but I do not think so.
Item 49
This is different - there is a tube going through the amber (filled) with circular artifacts going around it. Just a neat piece. This has a beetle, Coleoptera, Eucnemidae.
Item 50
A cicadomorph nymph is found on one end of this beauty, Homoptera, Cicadomorpha. On the other side is a very nice dark winged fungus gnat, Scirtidae.
Item 51
Busy, non-cleared piece of Baltic amber, irregular shape. Contains a lot, a fly, Nematocera, bethylid wasp, Bethylidae, a bristletail, Thysanura and 2 wasps, Hymenoptera.
SOLD
Item 52
This, rather "square" piece has a bark beetle, Coleoptera, Scolytidae and a dark winged fungus gnat.
Item 54
Dark amber with a long legged fly, Diptera, Brachycera and a few other animals. The details on the fly eyes are particularly good.
Item 55
Good sized piece that looks like it is a longitudinal section of an amber drop. Contains 4 flies and a scelionid wasp, Hymenoptera, Scelionidae.
SOLD
Item 56
2.5 x 2.5 x .75 inches and about 75 grams - pure Baltic butterscotch colored amber. Pure as the driven snow, this is a great piece that you can do just about anything with. Just a beautiful piece.
Item 58
I love pieces that tell a story. This has a couple of flies, Diptera, Nematocera that are laying eggs. They must have become stuck 24 million years ago and laid the eggs just before the died in the resin.
