Chiapas Amber (Mexico)
Item 1
This is an interesting offer. We just picked up about 68 strands of Mexican amber to be used as jewelry. There are as shown in the photos. As you can tell from the photos, they do need the clasp applied, but for re-selling, you cannot beat this deal. We can sell them one at a time, 10, 20, 30 or all 68. If you want quantities (10 or more), give me a email and we might be able to cut a deal depending upon how may you want. In small quantities, they are $6.50 each.
Item 2
As you may know, mosquitoes in amber are VERY rare. Since they are not attracted like most insects to the sticky resin, they seldom fly into it. This is a mosquito and it could be made into a beautiful pendant, Nematocera, Culcidae.. While beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, with this one, the beholder is eyeing a beauty. Probably one of the finest mosquitos that I have ever seen. The details on this specimen are out of this world. This would be perfect to be made into a pendant. A band of silver or gold with a clasp - just beautiful. This is a piece that looks like it is out of Jurassic Park.
Item 3
Every once in a while you run across the perfect specimen to show. This is a perfect braconid wasp (Aivalykus dominicanus: Braconidae:Hymenoptera). It happens to be a male. At first glance this does appear to have a long ovipositor; however, it is a male. The early stages of these braconids feed on insect larvae concealed deep within wood 'galleries'. When the hidden female emerges from the pupa, the male reaches in with his extended abdomen to mate with her - even before she leaves her abode. Whether the male ever sees the female he is mating with is speculative.
Anyway, this is the perfect braconid male wasp, easy to see, easy to identify and it has a great story.
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
I like this one, it is cool. This has a beautiful polyxenid millipede, Order, Polyxenida, class Diplopoda. At a glance, they might be mistakenly identified as worms. Their body is divided into 11 to 13 segments, with fine hairs alongside each one of them. There is a longer bundle of hair on the tail. Under special circumstances, the hairs will open wide like a fan (as this one is). This is a rare occurrence. They only grow to 0.12 inches (3 mm), so one has to look carefully at them. This is a magnificent specimen.
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
Did the picture catch your eye? Sometimes the impossible just takes a little while longer. This was worth the wait. I am sure you know that amber is not found in aquatic situations since it 'drips' off trees. To find aquatic animals in amber is such a rarity that this is the first time for us. This piece is about 1.5 x 1 x .3 inches. The amber is very clear. The amber is 'in-situ' - that is, it is on a rock, a heavy rock at that. There are about 5 barnacles in the amber, yes this is real. I do not ever remember reading about barnacles found in amber. This may be a fist in history. The barnacles are actually easy to see. This is a magnificent piece with a rarity that seldom comes along. Scientifically, this is worthy of a paper. Pholadidae?
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 love this piece. Here is a worker ant that no one in their right minds would bother. The jaws on this guy are just plain impressive. This is a trap door ant, Hymenoptera, Formicidae:Ponerinae. Trap door ants have jaws that will close at 145 mpg. These ants are rarely found in amber, an even rarely found in such good shape - this one is perfect. There is a nice piece of wood near the head of this defender ant.
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
Now this is a very special piece of amber. It is so seldom that one finds a mosquito in amber. Mosquitoes are not attracted to the aromatic 'cast offs' of resins. They are attracted by CO2 and heat. So it is seldom that one finds these elusive creatures in amber. This piece of amber has at least 6 mosquitoes - they must have been on a foraging rampage and all were trapped in the sticky resins from the tree. I have never seen anything like this before. I once saw 2 mosquitoes in amber, never 3 or 4 or even 6. Good sized piece of amber with an unbelievable load. Now there is more also - an unusual ant, Hymenoptera that has great detailing on its dorsal side (back). Finally there are some unusual crushed air bubbles, at least that is how I will describe them.
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
This is different, here is a piece of amber that shows the results of shipworms (Pholadidae, Bivalvia)---- really. These animals are lithophages, that is they need hard substrate to feed on. It can be either a stone or wood or even plastic for some species. The conical things with spherical ends are just the trace of activities of those animals. So the trace begins with a small holes and the animal grow inside it. Each time it is grows it eats the substrate beneath and as it is growing in size so the galleries are conical shaped. The animal should lives in the spherical end which grows toward the center of the substrate, that is why you see scratches of radula as the animal acts like a drill. Moreover you can be sure after seeing the traces of the radula (scratches). Those traces are surface borings filled later by the sediments where the bored amber pebble was finally deposited.
As far as I know there is only 1 Pholadidae identified in Baltic amber, a number have been ID in Burmese amber and there is one paper on the Pholadidae in Chiapas amber. This is rare - as rare as they get. It is my opinion that this will serve as a holotype for a new type (I think).
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
This is one of those pieces that is unbelievable. The first thing that catches your eye is the giant leaf. This leaf is big, no I would say huge. This is the largest leaf I have ever seen. The piece itself is about 4 inches x 3 inches x .5 inches. This is a monster piece - the type of piece you place on your desk for others to see. No microscope needed here.
Not only is the leaf huge and utterly impressive, but there is so many insects in this piece that you know the swarm landed here and never left. There must be many hundreds of gnats all over. Also, there is the occasional ant, immature planthopper and even some sheds of spiders (not sure if they are spiders) and even a termite . I even saw a small flower in this. The longer you look at it, the more you see.
I would consider this to be the cap stone of any collection.
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
The cut of this amber reminds me of book ends. The amber is fairly clear and the female mosquito is very obvious. You can see some good details about this mosquito, Diptera:Culicidae. These are very rare since mosquitos are not attracted by the sent of resin (which will make amber). This is a great gal, ready as the cornerstone of anyone's collection (believe it or not, the price is very reasonable.) Jurassic Park at it's best. By the way, there is also a gall gnat, Diptera, Cecidomyiidae
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
This is a big chunk of amber. There is a lot inside including 2 ant-like stone beetles, Coleoptera, Scydmaenidae and few midges, Diptera, Chironomidae. The 'biggie' though are the millipedes, Diplopoda:Polyzojiida. There are at least 4 of them, and they are rather large.
Item 28
This is an amazing piece. It is a seed. We are in Colorado and when you walk through fields, it not uncommon to pick up "burs" that stick to your socks or pant legs. Pulling them off hurts since they have spines. This does appear to be such a thing. It is the first time we have ever seen a large seed like this and it will probably be the last. I am sure that the plant seed inside the 'poky' covering is not viable, but it is fun to think about what would happen if you planted one. This is one heck of a piece of amber.
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
I first thought this was a butterfly, now I am not so sure. It has been identified as a planthopper. This is probably in the genus of Anotia often called derbid planthoppers in the family Derbidae.
We saved the best for last. Please note that the wings are spread - a VERY rare occurrence. the butterfly is light colored. The amber is clear and beautiful. This is a beauty for anyone's collection, enjoy.
Since you can see the planthopper better on the 'side', I have included 2 scanned images.
No cracks. I can see what I call a "flutter" imprint where it moved the wing and imprinted the flutter in the resin. While easily seen, the planthopper is semi-transparent. There is a remnant of color near both the tips of the wing. The entire piece is about 25mm x 19mm x 12mm. The planthopper is most easily seen on the 12mm ‘side’. From wing tip to wing tip, the span is 10mm. Is this a new species?
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