Baltic amber inclusions

[frogmarch]

Baltic amber contains the greatest diversity of fossil insects anywhere in the world. The photos are close-up views of the two Baltic amber inclusions I just bought. The amber pieces are only about 1/2” long, which means the photos are highly magnified.

I don’t know what the insect is in this one (two views of the same piece), but I will certainly do some research and try to find out.







There are some nice insect inclusions in this piece too. I don’t yet know specifically what they are either.



I love amber, especially amber with inclusions.

There are lots of fakes out there, so when shopping for amber (with or without inclusions), it’s buyer beware.

[Brother Buzz]

1. There's a nice old amber necklace floating around my house, somewhere

I examined it closely with a loupe once and found a wing part and something that could resemble an insect leg in one of the minor amber chunks. I guess the maker opted to grade for color and lack of inclusions.

[frogmarch]

3. Amber without inclusions is nice too

and some of the jewelry pieces are really pretty.

How nice that despite the maker apparently not wanting inclusions in the necklace, s/he probably got some anyway!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. very nice. love amber.

really nice specimens :o

:loveya:

[frogmarch]

4. Thanks. The amber stones are teensy,

but the bugs do look like nice specimens. I think the one in the first pic is probably a fly.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. looks like it could be

and don't I see some type of bee in the second and third pic :shrug:

[frogmarch]

6. It could be a bee

This picture is of Ctenoplectrella phaeton, a species of Eocene bee found in Baltic amber.

The amber inclusion I bought might be a different bee species from the bees found in Baltic amber of the same age, but in comparing the body wing shapes, I do think mine is also a bee.

Eocene flies I’ve seen online look a lot like the inclusions in the photo of the amber piece with multiple inclusions.

[frogmarch]

7. I just learned that

immature female Ctenoplectrella phaeton bees from the middle Eocene (photo on #6 of this thread) are usually white or off-white, except for the bristles (setae) at the end of the distal portions (tarsi) of their legs. The setae are brown. (So far, this sounds like my “bee.”)

Nothing is known about Ctenoplectrella phaeton males. Apparently males have yet to be identified.

In modern-day honeybees, some females have white eyes - just as my "bee" appears to.

I would be happy if the “bee” inclusion in the piece of amber I bought turns out to be a an immature ww female Ctenoplectrella phaeton. It would mean my specimen is from the middle Eocene and is the most recently discovered species of bee that has been found in Baltic amber.

I’m collecting interesting pieces of amber as I can afford to, to give to my 9-year-old grandson as part of his Christmas gift (along with a loupe). If he doesn’t like the amber inclusions, his dad, my son will. :-)

[suninvited]

8. In your bottom picture

I found one that looks almost identical to your bottom center bug



it is a fungus gnat in the one I posted. Possibly the same bug you have?

These are fascinating! I had never heard of these before and have enjoyed reading about them. Never having seen or read Jurassic Park, I didn't know about the theory of being able to extract DNA from insects trapped in the resin of certain trees and then fossilized in the amber that resulted from the resin.

I saw a fossilized lizard in amber on EBay this morning. If you act now, you might can bid on it. It starts at $55,000. Wow!!

[frogmarch]

14. Hey, yes, the little flies in the

amber that has several inclusions do look like the picture of the fungus gnat!

The more I read about amber inclusions, especially Baltic amber inclusions, the more intrigued I become.

OMG, I hope I'm not too late to bid on the lizard! LOL

[LynneSin]

9. So you going to make a few dinosaurs out of your samples?

:D

[suninvited]

10. in the movie, I think they were created

from the dinosaur blood samples pulled out of mosquito inclusions.

If she is able to make some, I hope you get one of the first baby dinosaurs!!

[LynneSin]

12. Only if it's one of those cute veggie eating dinos

I really don't want a T-Rex or Velociraptor in my backyard. The neighbors might protest.

[suninvited]

13. veggie dinosaurs

[frogmarch]

15. I wish I could, but

Baltic amber inclusions are from the Eocene epoch, which is more recent than the Cretaceous Period, the period in when the dinos lived.

The end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago marked the end of the dinosaurs. Then came the Palaeogene Period, which included the epochs called Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene. The Eocene epoch began about 54 million years ago and lasted till around 38 mya.

Still, I might be able to make some kind of cool animal out of the samples. :-D I wonder what.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Neat-O Cool-O!

Those all look like Dipterans (the fly family) of some sort. It's a really diverse group, which includes mosquitoes, house flies, robber flies, crane flies, flies that mimic bees, etc. Wish I could see them up close.

[frogmarch]

16. I'm really looking forward to

seeing them in person, but they may not arrive till the middle of December.

Speaking of Diptera, when I carefully looked at the photo of the "bee," I saw only one wing on the visible side, which means the insect isn't a bee, since bees are Hymenoptera, which have 2 wings on each side. So I think now the "bee" is a fly, possibly a phorid fly. I've searched through papers on phorids online, and the descriptions of some of the species seem to fit, except that none of the descriptions mention any with white or whitish eyes and exoskeletons. Maybe it's a mutant. The search continues!