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I am looking for fossil amber (no copal at this time, unless it's something really unusual). Locality is not important. I have a ton of Pleistocene, Pliocene, and Miocene fossils from Florida - most of them are from the Peace River locality (Bone Valley formation, Hawthorn Group). If you have some surplus amber to swap, let me know and maybe we can work something out. Reply here or message me to inquire.

Hi Whats is insect it ? Burmite amber.

Can anyone please help identify this insect? According to the label, the amber is from the Dominican Republic, dated to the Oligocene. Right now I'm guessing this is a black scavenger fly. Thanks in advance.

Recently in the news there has been a lot of discussion about a feathered non-avialan theropod /coelurosaur tail that was found intact, kept preserved for 99 million years in amber. Here is the study published about it: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(16)31193-9.pdf and a Nat Geo article http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/feathered-dinosaur-tail-amber-theropod-myanmar-burma-cretaceous/ On an awesome-ness scale of 1 to Sue, where do you place a fossil find like this? (Feel free to insert your own subjective fossil scale criteria, as well as swapping Sue for another fossil that reperesents a perfect 10 to you) -Curious Fossil noob

this just arrived in the mail today and i thought i'd show you guys, especially since sumatran amber is a new dicovery. this is a 10.1 gram semi rough piece of Blue amber from sumatra, Indonesia, and is early miocene in age. it has a small window polished into it but other than that, it is a rough piece. i may post better pictures that show the blue more, like in the middle of the day.

Just showing off some of my digital photography with Chiapas Amber. Chiapas amber is some of the highest quality and most difficult to obtain amber in the world. It is harder than most other ambers. Mexican amber is mined from the state of Chiapas, in Southern Mexico, where the veins running through the strata are estimated to be some 24-30 million years old. Here, the amber was formed from the resin of an ancient tropical tree (genus Hymenaec), the same genus of tree that produces the prized amber of the Dominican Republic.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/24/100-million-years-of-decorating-yourself-in-junk/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160925ph-bugsinjunk&utm_campaign=Content&sf36857324=1

I have been doing some recent work with Columbian Amber/Copal and thought I would throw this out for a general discussion. It is fun, if nothing else Most of my life I have believed that there is no difference between Copal and Amber. I know chemically there is no difference between the two. Amber/Copal from the same plant from different time periods, even millions of years apart are identical. Fossil resin's molecular make-up is mostly carbon and hydrogen atoms that form hexagonal rings. Molecular bonding between the rings increases over time (called polymerization, as in modern epoxy resins), and the tacky resin becomes hard. For all practical purposes, the hardened resin is a "plastic". Exactly when the resin becomes amber/copal, or a fossil, is not definable by any scientific criteria. I would like to see if others have the same thoughts. I am also attaching a picture of the best piece in my collection. "Best" meaning my favorite. This is one of my favorite articles. The following is by Dr. Robert E. Woodruff Emeritus Taxonomist, Florida State Collection of Arthropods Resins are produced by many trees and other plants; Frankincense of the Bible is one of these. Peach and Cherry trees produce resins that children often use as chewing gum. No botanist or paleontologist knows when resins were first produced, but we know it was probably more than 100 million years ago. They are produced to heal wounds, just as our blood coagulates to seal injuries. There is no doubt that these resins have been produced continuously since they first occured. Because they are affected little by the elements, resins are similar to their original form. Only a few volatile oils are eliminated by time and burial (e.g., in marine sediments that are 3000 ft. elevation now). We use Canadian Balsam as the most permanent sealant for cover slips on microscope slides. Unfortunately, no one can presently date these resins by any definitive tests. Because they have been continuously produced, there are no drastic changes from one geological period to another. We can infer age, if we know the age of a sedimentary deposit in which they are found (this would be a minimum, because older material could have been redeposited). There are those (including several scientists) that insist that the word amber must be reserved for certain age resins. With such a continuous resin production, and no clear dating, it could all be called amber. It is a semantic argument, & those who sell Baltic, Dominican, & Mexican "amber" do not want to use the term for any that might be more recent. Obviously a commercial bias is present. They prefer to use the term "copal". Strictly speaking, the Aztec word "copal" is used for all resins! They do not distinguish the Miocene deposits from southern Mexico from the recent resin collected for incense today. Therefore it should not be redefined to fit some new arbitrary definition based on age. It is considered lower class only because of these commercial interests. We have Cretaceous amber (at least 65 million years old) and much Oligocene & Miocene amber, as well as Pliocene (Africa), and many others. We have no dates or specific geological information on Colombian amber. Because of it's color and hardness, we believe it may be Pliocene or Pleistocene (as is some of the Dominican amber from Cotui). Studies underway may clarify the deposits, but evidence suggests that there may be varying geological formations & ages. Mankind (depending on the anthropologist's definition thereof) has been on earth only 3-5 million years. Certainly the Olduvai specimens are fossils (both men & animals) and extremely valuable for study of human evolution. If we assume the Colombian amber is this recent, it still has extremely important value for those studying the fossils. Studies of biodiversity, biogeography, ecology, and evolution, all benefit from the scientific description of these amber fossils. Age is relative, the old man said, but old is not necessarily better. To call the Colombian material anything other than amber is a misnomer! Logically, we should just call everything "resin", with qualifying adjectives of origin or geological formation. I doubt that this would be acceptable to most "amber" dealers!

A friend of mines father found this washed up on a beach many years ago. We think it may be amber but we are looking for confirmation. He has done a few basic tests and he thinks it is amber over copal. Has many insect and plant inclusions, and probably weighs over 20 lbs. Anyone able to confirm this? Is there a way we can easily, definitively find out if this is amber? Thanks coin pictured is a US quarter.

I found a great specimen in burmite amber, including a neuropteran eclosing from its larval case. The larva ('ant-lion') can be seen clinging to the leaf, and the adult form was captured emerging; Its wings have yet to expand, etc. and this is a genuine piece of Cretaceous burmite. It shat 3x after eclosing, and there's a homopteran & coleopteran also captured inside. Besides being spectacularly beautiful and crazy timing, I can't seem to find any other instances of such "metamorphosis in the act" in the fossil record... Certainly nothing 100 Mya, with a showy lacewing, and in such clearcut detail. Even the grass(?) is partly preserved where the larval form clung. Any thoughts, pointers, points of reference? Can anyone possibly identify the subfamily or genus? Aquatic or terrestrial "ant-lion"? The images are purely for reference/informational purposes in this forum (not my own), and thanks for any helpful discussion.

Hi All: Does anyone know about herps preserved in amber? I've got a specimen from Baltic amber that's partial---head and leg with digits. It seems to be particularly well-preserved, so much so that all the details of the eye and digits, scales, etc. look incredible. Is it possible to nail it down to genus (or at least family) from the limited specimen? And how common is it for lizard specimens from Baltic amber to have such near-perfect fixation? Here's one photo attached, and (for the moment at least) I've got it on eBay for more photos and provenience details etc. If it turns out to be something less-than-common taxonomically then I should say it would be more honorable to take down the post...

Please help me to identify if my necklace is Amber . Thank you.

On the evening of september 16th. 2013, right @ dark, Amber fossil resin was discovered for the first time ever in Henderson county,TN. This discovery was made by myself. On the afternoon of september 20th. 2013, i discovered a specimen of Amber that my wildest dreams had never imagined! Hahhaaa....yea!!! It snatched away the previous state record sized specimen from the late (& great!) Professor Bruce Wade, like it wasn't even there! His record specimen was about a inch and a half in diameter, and it stood for 99 years until i came along on that fateful day! It is an honor for my name and accomplishments to even be mentioned in the same paragraph as mr. Wade's.....here's to you Bruce!!! The sept.20th. specimen has rough demensions of about 4in×3in×2in thick., and a lovely red color. It's exact weight is 149.2 grams, or 5.263 oz. Needless to say, i went straight awol crazy after finding that!.......so......the story doesn't end here! No sir!.....was struck down w/ the worst case of "Amber-Fever" the world has ever seen! (still haven't been able to shake it off) so there i was hunting in the middle of the pouring rain on the afternoon of nov. 22 nd. 2013 when the magic happened again. Found the largest Amber specimen i've ever seen in my life. It's about the size of a hamburger. (Robble-Robble! ). So, barely 2 months after breaking the state record, & before it could even be documented.....i broke my own record......here's to you Bruce Wade! Rest in peace Brother! These discoveries of mine i have for the most part been relatively secretive about. Since finding the wonderful objects, i have began to actively work with a prestigious University and two intellectuals that it is truely an honor to meet. I must for present remain somewhat secretive about sites/locations/time periods/ stratigraphy/lithology......ect., ect. Because revealing that information will jeopardize their work, and i could never do that. If i like it or not,it is the way it has to be until all has been finished. This experience has taught me that patience is truely a virtue, good science doesn't happen overnight,but painfully takes an untold amount of months....but, it just has to be that way. But when all is finally completed, Henderson county and the great state of Tennessee can take pride in their true-blue "native son", and the wonderful things that lie right in their back yard. Praise YAHVEH!

Hello, I am new to this forum. I'm an evolutionary ecologist, and used to working on living organisms, but this is so well-preserved it might as well be alive! What I'm nearly sure you're looking at is a fossilized pupating butterfly (chrysalis). You can see the silk lines it attached to the leaf, as well as much of the leaf itself. This would be what one would call a "pre-pupa", but it's already starting to look very chrysalis-ish. It certainly looks papilionid, perhaps lycaenid based on size and morphology? What strikes me is both the rarity and incredible beauty of this find if it is what I think it is. Any thoughts?? Is this the only chrysalis known in the fossil record? It's from Baltic amber, straight from the mines to an collector's hands (and now my own.) Looking forward to replies.

This Monday morning about 10:00, The alarms went down in The Tennessee River Museum,external frame, retaining clips, and glass plate removed to the exhibit which housed Mr. Wade's famously historic Specimen of Amber. That day had been prearranged & was preparatory for a Meeting in Nashville the next day. I was actually allowed to remove the specimen out of the display, privately inspect, take measurements of, and photograph it. What an amazing feeling it was to actually roll it around in my hand and closely view it in detail...I will always remember it. For those who may not know, that piece of Amber was the first recorded specimen in North America (!) To contain an Insect inclusion. As Scientific material, it is over 100 years old...in the Paleobotanical world, it's a Grand Slam. And in my mind, it's historical record achievement combined with it's contribution to science and continuous documented history......well, it surely must be such a unique thing that a monetary value must can't be placed on it...it's like the Liberty Bell man.I would argue it to be an iconic piece of American History at any rate. Here I present to you the best photos I could (sorry about image quality) of the specimen. My eyewitness testimony may perhaps be credible enough to resolve a few issues regarding what the inclusion(s) appears like..to the naked eye at least. Some recordings speak of a "whole" inscect, others say only a wing is contained in it, while it is also recorded to have disarticulated remains in the form of a wing and ,two body sections ( best I remember). I did notice 3 different inclusions in the piece. One of the Two key holders to the cases in the Museum told me he couldn't remember the specimen ever coming out of the case!And it had been so long he couldn't remember how many years it had been on display.this first pic is a historic photograph for Tennessee,if nothing more, but may be elevated to a higher status in the future. It is Gwynneth Marie Welch, my daughter, holding Bruce Wade's specimen in her right hand, and in her left hand lays a specimen of from our recoveries which contains two "whole" insects from the Cretaceous, a first for Tennessee. My expertise in insects being minimal, I can only relate one looks like a nat and the other a mosquito. Other inclusions occurring in the specimen, bubbles, ect. Perhaps they may turn out new to science...a dream come true. At any rate, enjoy these photos of Wade's specimen, they aren't the best perhaps, but there really isn't that many pictures floating around on the internet to view the specimen either. I have another post to make about similar connected events that will also be made today

Good morning all, we have recently found this in a local river and are very curious as to what it could be.. we initially thought that it was petrifies wood or a cross section of a pine cone.. but we are newbies and don't really have a clue.. we have had a really good look online and still have no clue. if anyone has any suggestions we would love to know your thoughts.. its approximately 2 inchs x 1 inch.. I have taken a pic from both sides. so you can see the resin/sap/amber running all the way through.. any knews is good knews.. please help..

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to share some new fossils I got yesterday. I got a mammoth bone that was found in Kansas, a piece of amber with an insect in it and a pair of ammonites from Morocco. I can't remember what type of ammonite it is, so any help would be appreciated. This is such a great hobby! Thanks so much, Erin

A while ago i decided to recommend an amber book to my school library. it was too expensive and they said they would not get enough use out of it (I know, such an atrocity to utter such words). But then i found THIS book, called Amazing amber, showcasing the highlights of the museum of scotland's amber collection, both in ancient jewelry and charms to *gasp* glitteringly beautiful and rare examples of microfauna and flora in various types of amber including burmese, baltic, dominican and mexican amber. And i mean gut-wrenchingly, blood-curdling, cramp-inducingly, eye-wateringly beautiful photos. In fact I practically revere it like someone else would revere a Mini bible. (i say someone else for a good, good reason) Finally, amber has been done justice in my library.

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Hello everyone. My boyfriend and I have began to collect amber fossils about two months ago. Mainly we get amber from Myanmar, for the beautiful yellow color of the resin. My boyfriend was able to find a legitimate direct source to acquire freshly mined Baltic amber, we couldn't be more blessed! The Baltic amber is quite stunning in nature and holds fascinating history. Here I like to show everyone some pieces from our collection we are the most proud of. We do not know what's encased within, hopefully in time we'll learn enough to identify. For now, we enjoy the beauty of the unknown (and some known =D ) ---- For some strange reason the website freeze and crash when I upload certain photos. Is there a reason that could have caused this crash? I noticed the site always crashed for the same ones I tried to upload. So unfortunately I can't display what I want to for now... That's why there are only three. Too bad, I really want to show off the scorpion ones... hahaha.

I've managed to nail down where an amber locality is in Tasmania, and what the rules are etc. regarding what material can exit Australia, and I've even found an expert who is qualified to identify which material is permitted to exit. I'm going to Tasmania on the 10th of July to see my grandfather and he has agreed to take the 6-hour total drive to the site to look for amber at a location that has produced amber on a few occasions in the past. no guarantees i'll find any but wish me luck anyway! i'll post any finds in this same Topic if i find anything.

I have just bought this piece of Dominican amber off amberica west, and when i started researching the inclusions i came to a startling conclusion. i can pretty conclusively say that this piece of amber bled out in a damp, moist part of the ancient Dominican environment, and my personal guess is that it was somewhere low on the tree. how do i know this? well, it contains a bryophyte (liverwort), a springtail, a fly, and an ant, but it's the first two that stand out. both the bryophyte and the springtail require moist conditions to live, and as far as i know they pretty much both like to live on (or very close to) the ground. i'm not sure about the ant and the fly but i thought that i may as well share it with you since there's nothing like looking at a fossil with a story behind it. <liverwort <springtail <ant <'fly' i am not sure about the fly as it seems to have more than one pair of wings? also, a while after originally posting this i came across a photo of a modern specimen of liverwort that seems very, very similar. <-------->

Just one piece I bought yesterday, I thought i'd show you guys because the detail is really amazing. This is a Caddis Fly in Baltic amber, (Trichoptera Polycentropodidae) and you can even see the facets of the eyes and every minute detail on the body. pictures by amberica west. this pic shows the head and eye detail particularly well. ----> I can't wait for this to arrive!

I've heard there is Pliocene amber in Tasmania, Australia but I do not know specifically where it is collected or what te rules are surrounding collection And taking it out of the country as I'm visiting my grandfather there in 2 weeks and we might probably go get some amber if its near enough.