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
Now this is interesting. At first glance I thought this might be a worm. Upon closer examination I thought this might be a roundworm, Nematoda. Finally I cannot decide since it may be part of a plant. But this is a cool piece! Wow, it draws the eye to it. Not particularly large, about 1/2 inch in diameter - this would make a perfect ring or a center to a necklace. It is eye catching.
Item 3
Caddis flies are not common, nor are they rare - but they are cool. Caddisflies are in the order Trichoptera and to me, resemble moths or butterflies. The name "caddis" derives from the imagined resemblance of the patchwork case to itinerant tailors of medieval London, who walked the streets with many different swatches of cloth pinned all over their outer garments as samples. The swatches were called caddises and the tailors were called caddismen.
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 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
Beautiful piece with a large leaf. One and a half inches in length, this will be the 'biggie' in anyone's collection. One side has numerous air bubbles, obscuring the leaf, the other side screams 'leaf'. The entire piece is large and impressive. There is the remnant of a spider and a very small leaf beetle. Here are 2 very short videos of the leaf.
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
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
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.
