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Show Us Your Insect Fossils!


pleecan

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I acquire/purchased 3 insect fossils a few yrs back... have lost the slips of paper that describes them.... thus location Unknown. Snapped a few photos to share... PL

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I LIKE them! The first one resembles a Mayfly.

My collection includes a few "accidental" insects:

The matrix upon which this Oligocene bird egg rests post-423-1260654419752_thumb.jpg

is composed entirely of the larva cases of a particular caddisfly post-423-12606545201821_thumb.jpg

Note that the cases are made of tiny snail shells (so this fossil is a three-fer)!

I also have some Green River Eocene insects (sharing the slab with feathers)post-423-12606544616165_thumb.jpg

This one has a "snout beetle" and a fly.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Wow! That matrix conglomeration of egg + bone + larvae is marvelous. What a spectacular find.

Thanks! I'm sure the guy that found it thought so; I had the extreme pleasure of figuring out what all was going on with this fossil; the seller had no idea.

It came from St Gerand le Puy, France.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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The matrix upon which this Oligocene bird egg rests post-423-1260654419752_thumb.jpg

is composed entirely of the larva cases of a particular caddisfly post-423-12606545201821_thumb.jpg

Note that the cases are made of tiny snail shells (so this fossil is a three-fer)!

Auspex,

That is an incredible association piece. I have heard of caddisfly cases made of tiny fish scales and bones from the Early Cretaceous of England and know that some modern caddisflies make cases out of tiny shells, but I've never seen a fossil one. You said "bird egg" but must mean "bird leg" as that appears to be a tarsometatarsus. What bird is that?

I read in "Evolution of the Insects" (a great reference, especially for what you get for the price) that the common name "caddisfly" is of unclear origin but may come from Old English. "Cadice men" were traveling salesmen, who advertised their fabric selection by pinning small samples to their coats.

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Guest Smilodon

Thanks! I'm sure the guy that found it thought so; I had the extreme pleasure of figuring out what all was going on with this fossil; the seller had no idea.

It came from St Gerand le Puy, France.

Great Googly Moogly! :startle: What a fossil.

Any id on the leg bone?

Any idea of how it got fossilized?

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You said "bird egg" but must mean "bird leg" as that appears to be a tarsometatarsus. What bird is that?

The star of this one is a fully-inflated egg:

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It is the only whole one I know of from this famous site.

The tarsometatarsus is as yet unidentified; ID will require the removel of the encasing travertine, and I haven't had the heart to do it (makes a nice display piece as-is).

There is no way to know whether the bone and the egg have anything more in common that their physical association, though their sizes are roughly consistent.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Any idea of how it got fossilized?

The phosphorite deposits of St Gerand le Puy have yielded the most extensive record of the Oligocene birds of Europe; they have been studied for 150 years. It was while researching this site that I stumbled on the specimen; gotta' love the internet!

If I ever ger the itch (and courage) to do it, I'll see whether there are any fossil larvae in the tubes; they are known:

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"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Auspex, still in amazement...To think what it takes to just get a single fossil preserved and you got all of that going on in one specimen, WOW! WOW! I'd be afraid to breathe in the same room with it!

PL, I dont have a camera that handles the other small insects I have very well. So, the only one I can offer now is one I posted a couple months back in a similar insect request...I love Solnhofen stuff and this is the nearest I've come to getting an entire dragonfly....Libelle sp. Jurassic, Germany

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I hope some of the new members have one complete specimen to show...

Here's the previous link that Martinjn started. He and the other members have some neat stuff posted there...

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9753&st=0

Regards, Chris

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PL, I dont have a camera that handles the other small insects I have very well. So, the only one I can offer now is one I posted a couple months back in a similar insect request...I love Solnhofen stuff and this is the nearest I've come to getting an entire dragonfly....Libelle sp. Jurassic, Germany

I hope some of the new members have one complete specimen to show...

Here's the previous link that Martinjn started. He and the other members have some neat stuff posted there...

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9753&st=0

Regards, Chris

Very nice Chris!... thanks for sharing the photo. PL

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Some close up shots of flying insect... only a microscope can reveal fine details that the eye misses, some very fine preservation... I think this fossil may be from Liaoning... purchase several yrs ago. PL

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please see my insects fossils.

Merry Christmas everyone!! :P

Very nice Homolka...clean crisp resolution... thanks for sharing the photos. Merry Christmas. PL

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Wow! Nice stuff, folks!

Auspex, that muddabber wasp... I'm drooling...

Pleecan & homolka, I'm envious of your camera gear!

;)

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A fish and insect fossil combo... with black dendritic pseudofossils? Purchased a few yrs back.... origins may be from Liaoning. PL

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A fish and insect fossil combo... with black dendritic pseudofossils? Purchased a few yrs back.... origins may be from Liaoning. PL

Neat association, PL, and the dendrites enhance the curb-appeal nicely :wub:

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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The star of this one is a fully-inflated egg:

post-423-12607143706165_thumb.jpg

It is the only whole one I know of from this famous site.

The tarsometatarsus is as yet unidentified; ID will require the removel of the encasing travertine, and I haven't had the heart to do it (makes a nice display piece as-is).

There is no way to know whether the bone and the egg have anything more in common that their physical association, though their sizes are roughly consistent.

That is an even weirder association than I first understood - an egg with a complete bird bone among caddisfly cases. Yeah, that's a tough call whether to try to expose the tarsometatarsus to the point of being able to identify it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are two frog hoppers (Family Cercopidae) and a beetle (Order Coleoptera). These are all from the Eocene Okanagan Highlands deposited througout the interior of British Columbia. The first specimen is from near Cache Creek and the other two are from near Princeton.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A fish and insect fossil combo... with black dendritic pseudofossils? Purchased a few yrs back.... origins may be from Liaoning. PL

Hi pleecan,

your fish and insect combo - I would rather think it is from Brazil. The fish seems to be a Dastilbe elongatus. No idea about the insect. The Crato member of the Santana member in Brazil is famous for it's excellent insects.

Take a look at:

http://www.ig.unb.br/sigep/sitio005/sitio005english.htm

And more insects under:

http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Sites/Santana-Formation.htm

Thomas (oilshale)

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC).

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Hi pleecan,

your fish and insect combo - I would rather think it is from Brazil. The fish seems to be a Dastilbe elongatus. No idea about the insect. The Crato member of the Santana member in Brazil is famous for it's excellent insects.

Take a look at:

http://www.ig.unb.br/sigep/sitio005/sitio005english.htm

And more insects under:

http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Sites/Santana-Formation.htm

Thomas (oilshale)

Hello Thomas: Thank you very much for the information.... I have misplaced / lost a lot of the original documents including ID during my early days of purchasing fossils for my collection. I enjoy very much your wonderful vast collection of fossils. Best Regards, PL.

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The following is a descriptor from seller:

Here is a fossil plate of a Beetle (甲蟲), belong to the order Coleoptera.

This beetle comes from the Chinese famous Shanwang Paleobiology Fossil Group.

Name: Beetle.

Length: 71mm.

Width: 67mm.

Weight: 23g.

Locality: Shandong, China.

Age: Middle Miocene (17myo).

PL

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