Dominican Amber
Item 105
Very nice and clear cabochon that has 2 fairly good sized animals. Both in the order Homoptera, one is planthopper, Fulgoroidea and the other is a cicada, family Cixiidae.
Item 106
This is one cool spider. It is commonly called the oil-can spider. Take a close look at the body and you will see why they are called this. They are not common in Dominican amber (although I would not say they are rare). There is a little confusion in terminology of this genus: it is either Lasaeola or Dipoena (family Theridiidae). The amber is small and thin.
Item 107
I really like this spider. Look closely and you can even see the fangs on this beauty. The amber is a modified cube.
Scanned Image!
Item 108
1.75 x 1.5 x .75 inches and about 17.1 grams. This large cab has an interesting color and pattern on it. You will enjoy looking at these pictures. There are two small 'dead' areas on the the cab - which do not detract at all - great price.
Item 109
Small piece with a nice fly, Diptera, Brachycera. Has what looks like some coprolites and also an unknown Dipteran.
Item 110
Don't look at this one, if you do, you will fall in love with it. There is a perfect long legged fly, Diptera, Dolichopodidae. It is such a thrill to see such a beautiful animal.
Item 111
A rather large spider. It is not often you see this large of an animal in resin, since the larger ones can often 'pull' themselves out of the sticky glob.
Item 112
I love pieces like this. This is an assembly of winged, male ants, Hymenoptera, family, Formicidae, genus Camponotus. They must have been flying in a group when they encountered the extruded resin from the tree. This is a large chunk of amber.
Item 113
This elongated piece contains a single true midge, Diptera, Chironomoidae. The abdomen is strangely bloated.
Item 114
There is something about a leaf (or in this case, part of a leaf) that is just plain cool. You can even see what looks like stomata on the leaf.
Item 115
Clear - perfect leaf. The leaf itself is about 1 inch in length by .5 inches in width. This is truly a beautiful piece - museum quality. This would be the shining glory in anyone's collection. It also would look great made into a pendant - the leaf is so large.........so perfect that it draws the eye to it. It is possible to find leaf parts in amber, but to find an entire leaf, well, that is just a rarity.
Item 116
A male jumping spider, Araneida, Salticidae off to the side. There is Dipteran, Nematocera and what looks like a "flat rock".
Item 117
In small spider amongst a sea of yellow with ancient air bubbles all around. Nice piece - only a spider here.
Item 118
Nice elongated cab with a centrally placed male spider. The cabochon is clear and the spider is easy to see.
Item 119
Large dome shape amber with an unknown beetle, Coleoptera, part of an eaten leaf and a small scaly barklouse, Psocoptera, Lepidopsocidae.
Item 120
A large piece of amber (2 inches x 3/4 x 1 inch) with a large, centrally located spider. There is a bunch of other trapped animals, a thrip, a winged termite, an ant and 2 unknowns.
Item 121
Good sized piece of Dominican amber. This has 3 very small (baby?) spiders and a rove beetle. It is a nice piece showing some successive resin flow and a bunch of 24 million year old air bubbles.
Item 122
A lizard tail! Lizards are rare, tails are also rare. But when you look at this one, it is a complete small tail from a lizard. The details are very good in this.
Item 123
Larger piece of amber with a single air bubble. The bubble is large and has amber cracks going through it. You do not see large bubbles like this very often.
Item 124
Here are a bunch of bubbles. This one, the bubbles look like they have been deflated. How that happens, I do not know. Fun effect to see.
Item 125
Here you go with a beautiful cab that contains one single air bubble. The bubble is opaque and the other side has some interesting patterns.
Item 126
This has about 2 dozen flat-footed ambrosia beetles, Coleoptera, Platypodidae. You can also see the wood debris scattered around them (they are wood borers). Rare piece.
This is a large chunk of amber.
This is a beetle of minor importance to structural wood members, and it is only one of the beetles often called “ambrosia” beetles, a name derived from the fact that the larvae actually feed on ambrosia fungus that grows in the wood, having been introduced by the ovipositing female beetle. As the fungus grows and the larvae feed on it the tunnels in the wood are stained dark blue, black, or brown.
Item 127
A beautiful piece of amber, clear with great color. There is a trap-jaw ant in this - Hymenoptera, Formicidae, genus Odontomachus. Commonly known as trap-jaw ants, species in Odontomachus have a pair of large, straight mandibles capable of opening 180°. These jaws are locked in place by an internal mechanism, and can snap shut on prey or objects when sensory hairs on the inside of the mandibles are touched. The mandibles are powerful and fast, giving the ant its common name. This is a good sized piece of amber.
Item 128
I am not 100% sure on this beetle. It might be something as easy as a cylindrical bark beetle, but I cannot guarantee it. It does have a spider and a mite. The mite is in the family Bdellidae, probably Bdella sp.
