Dominican Amber
Item 1
I have a thing for flowers in amber. Here is a beauty. It is centrally located and just plain good. Not far from the flower is an unknown insect. The insect is not as fine as the flower. This would be a good piece to have made into a pendant.
SOLD
Item 2
Here is one that yo do not see often. There are two lightning bugs, Coleoptera, Lampyridae. You can see the beautiful patterns on their bodies. I must tell you that one section of the amber has been chipped near one of the lightning bugs and this leaves a jagged edge at that spot. The bugs are beautiful though....and the pattern on them is extraordinary. Really a plus for anyone.
Item 3
Very nice piece of Dominican amber. Roughly like a small coin. There is a lot of forest debris in here (cool). This has a beetle mite, Acarina, Oribatidae, Brachypylina. Beetle mites typically carry on their backs and legs bits and shreds of a former molt.
Item 4
I have always like plant parts in amber. Here is the stem from a leaf - and just a beautiful piece. Lots of animals buzzing around inside, a midge, gnat and fly. Great fun to look at.
Item 7
I love this piece. I get a kick out of looking at organic debris and air bubble without a microscope. This has everything. It even has a couple of worker termites, Isoptera to boot. A very fun piece - just think about the 'ancient air' that has been trapped for 24 million years.
Item 8
Very clear piece with a fat lauxaniid fly, Diptera, Lauxaniidae. There are a couple of midges, Chironomidae. There are a few surface cracks on this piece.
Item 10
Here is a pseudoscorpion. Pseudoscorpions are very small - this being no exception. They are very uncommon in amber and command the highest of prices. This one is at the edge of the small piece of very clear amber, and is complete. It does not show hardly at all on the scan. Since is a pseudoscorpion all by itself on this page - the price is VERY good for this specimen! The amber is a round cab shape.
Item 11
A small parasitic wasp, Hymenoptera and two really cool looking, collapsed air bubbles. Just think these bubbles contain air from 24 million years ago.
Item 12
This is an interesting piece. It contains an interesting crane fly. I am sure this is a crane fly, Tipulidae even though some of the body parts are distorted. There are a few flies, Diptera, Brachycera, with good details about them. One fly is near a plant part. This is a fun piece to look at under the microscope.
Item 13
Smallish piece that contains a small millipede, family Polyxenidae, a spider and a fungus gnat, Mycetophilidae, with many small air bubbles strewn around.
Item 15
Inside this amber is a gall midge, Diptera, Cecidomyiidae. The wings are unusual since they are darkened. I am assuming that the darkening is not real, but an artifactual in nature.
Item 16
Smallish, dark piece that contains a tropical stingless bee, Hymenoptera, family Meliponini, genus Proplebea, species, dominicana.
Item 17
A perfect piece with a centrally located tropical stingless bee. Stingless bees also know as meliponines are closely related to honey bees and bumblebees. The bee is in the Order Hymenoptera, Family Apidae:Meliponini, Genus Proplebeia and species, dominicana.
Item 18
A nice planthopper, Homptera, Cixiidae. These feed on plants and cause damage by sucking their juices or cutting leaves for storing their eggs. There is a large springtail, Collembola at the anterior end of the planthopper.
Item 19
Clear piece that has a gall midge, Diptera, Cecidomyiidae - that is the smaller animal, the larger is probably a fly. A very small part has chipped of giving an edge and rough appearance.
Item 20
Nice cricket, Orthoptera and 2 others - an unknown beetle and unknown Dipteran. Nice sized piece of amber, good for someone's collection.
Scanned Image!
Item 21
There is a zoo in this piece. Hard to figure out where to start. There are a number of flies, Diptera, Brachycera. There are at least 2 moth flies, Diptera, Psychodidae, some unknown flies, Every time I look at it, I see new animals.
Item 22
Here you will find a winged termite in all it's glory. There is even another pair of wings next to the unlucky fellow who died 24 million years ago.
Item 23
Item 24
This piece has 2 sterile female ants. One is curled and the other stretched out. There appears to be some organic debris here possibly from a wood boring beetle. Nice piece.
SOLD
Item 25
I love pieces like this. There is a small gnat, nothing big......... but when you look around you can see the remains of a spider web. Very cool.
Item 26
As you can see from the picture at the left, this has a very nice been larvae. By the way, there is no way I can ID beetle larvae! I can ID the gnat near the larvae, it is a fungus gnat, Diptera, Mycetophilidae. The gnat has some particularly fine details about the eye.
Item 27
This is a large planthopper, Homoptera. Fulgoroidea. The amber is very clear and the planthopper shows signs of carbonization. You cab see where the amber heated up and the carbon in the exoskeleton became darker. Good price on this one.
Item 28
Here is a very large piece of amber, 21.6 grams, mostly polished, but two sides are not (makes it look better). There is what looks like a stick going through the dark amber and this also has 3 worker termites scattered in the fossilized resin. Cool piece, good sized.
Scanned Image!
Item 29
This is one that reminds me of the 'Stay Puff Marsh Mellow Man". It has a nice worker termite in it. In the intestines of termites are many bacteria and protozoans. When the animal becomes stuck in the resin and dies, the micro biome still lives for a while and emits carbon dioxide - which you can see the resulting bubbles around the animal. This particular piece even has a moving air bubble which means that there is probably water inside - 20 million year old water. This is a fun piece.
Item 30
Nice sized piece of amber. Inside (and it is the only thing) is a tropical stingless bee, Hymenoptera, Family, Apidae:Meliponini, Genus, Proplebeia, species, dominicana.
Item 31
There is a single wasp, Hymenoptera. The head and wings are easily seen and this dominates most of the amber. On the very edge is something. At first I thought it was part of a feather, but I do not think so. It does look like it - and if I am wrong, someone has quite the piece at a basement price.
Copyright © 2020 Amberica West - All rights reserved.
(719) 258-9319
