Chiapas Amber (Mexico)
Item 1
This is it - 20 million years of love making. This is a pair of midges mating (Diptera, Chironomidae). Caught in the act 20 million years ago, still enjoying their time. A good sized piece of amber, 2 inches x 1.5 x .5 inches, this piece is not polished on the sides - giving it a beautiful quality. The male is on the left, female on the right.
Item 2
At first glance, this is a nice piece - clear, great color and a nice tropical stingless bee well placed in the amber. On second glance, this stingless bee has a corbicula or pollen basket on the hind leg. These are VERY rare and so seldom seen - this is a GREAT piece. The tropical stingless be is in the Order: Hymenoptera, Family: Apidae: Meliponini, Genus Proplebeia, species, dominicana.
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 behold. Here is a video.
Item 4
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
Item 10
I do not know what type of centipede this is, but it is nice. The amber is clear, the centipede is easy to see. Just a cool piece. I feel this might be a new or interesting piece.
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.
Item 12
Just a sharp piece with a single tropical stingless bee, Hymenoptera, Meliponini, Genus, Proplebeia, species, dominicana This is the type of piece that should be made into a pendant. .
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.
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.
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.
Item 16
A very different piece of Chiapas amber. This is roughly cubical and about 3/4 of an inch on each side. The amber has good color and is clear. Inside I am not 100% sure. I think this is a worker termite that shows decomposition bubbles inside the body. It is hard to be absolutely sure, but whatever it is, it is really cool.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Item 21
Just a beautiful piece. The outside edges are rough and the top and bottom are perfectly clear. An impressive piece at first (and last) glance. Floating in a sea of yellow is a single, small fly, Diptera, Brachycera. Sometimes a piece just has a quality about it that draws one's attention. This is it, Mexican amber at it's finest. Here is a short video on the piece.
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.
Item 23
Beautiful piece with a large spider. This is the type of piece that you could give you child and he/she could easily see the animal. A fine piece of amber.
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.
Item 25
A wonderful piece of Chiapas amber with distinct and beautiful colors. Good sized piece (no insects in this one).
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.
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.
Item 28
You've got to love this one. A rather good sized piece of Chiapas amber with what I call a "death assembly" of termites. Looks like they all flew into the sticky resin and were trapped - 20 million years later they still look alive.
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.
Item 30
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.
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.
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.
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.
Item 35
What a leaf! The leaf is about 1.25 inches long and very easily seen. A great piece for anyone's collection. Details are good and this one is a keeper.
