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 Post subject: An insect in Indonesian amber
PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 2:31 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
Like many people I bought a few sacks of Indonesian amber when it was cheap a couple of years back (it may still be, I just have enough and haven't been looking to get more). I haven't done much with it because it's a bit soft and I don't have a good reliable way to get a polish on it, but I cut a couple of slices and cabochons to try it out, and in one of them this little guy showed up right under the dome. I spotted it before I had a good microscope and only now rediscovered the cab while starting to reorganize our stock. Honestly it's hard to tell for sure that it's even an insect except for the one well-preserved leg, and these indonesian ambers are too, too treacly and too fluorescent for good photography even with a prettier subject (I can't even use my fiberoptic light because the green glow makes the stone more opaque [and it highlights the bad surface finish]). But nevertheless I can now say I found a bug* in amber. I wonder if you can identify a bug's species from its fingerprints, because that's about all that's left.
*~30% of a bug
Image
~4mm FoV
Image
~2mm FoV

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 Post subject: Re: An insect in Indonesian amber
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:54 am 
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Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:55 am
Posts: 543
I can't, but I'd warrant a good entomologist could. It may even be an unknown species, in which case it could be named after you!


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