GeschWhat Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Hi all, I picked up this piece of amber because of the interesting coprolite (caterpillar, I think). Anyway, it also has an interesting flying insect with a white substance surrounding it. The wings also look like they have some sort of protrusions along the edges as well. At first I thought it was some sort of spider silk, but I can't see any fibers. The only other thing I could think of was some sort of parasitic fungus. It was really hard to get a good photo of it. Are there any amber experts out there that have come across something like this? 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Hm.Fungi/Lichen preservation in amber does happen:e.g.Casparyotorula,Chaenthecopsis You don't happen to know where this piece comes from(provenence,provenance)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 10 hours ago, doushantuo said: Hm.Fungi/Lichen preservation in amber does happen:e.g.Casparyotorula,Chaenthecopsis You don't happen to know where this piece comes from(provenence,provenance)? I don't have any provenance, but am currently trying to track down additional information. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguy Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Sorry, I do not have time to search now, but I remember reading / seeing that this white formation around insects in amber came from the water lost by the insect during the fossilization In resin, and that this is a sign of authenticity for fossil and amber. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmoceras Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 With regard to Baltic amber... "the insect inclusions are often preserved with a white coating, which is formed from liquids that have escaped from the decaying insect's body and then entered the surrounding amber, turning it cloudy" - Source: Amber, by Andrew Ross. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 I really do think this is some sort of entomopathogenic fungus and not clouding. It was really hard to get a good photo of the substance. Once I found the correct terminology I was able to find papers on the subject. I haven't had a chance to read this yet, but Figure 54 in this paper looks very similar to what I'm seeing in my specimen. Here is another. I will have to break out my digital microscope. It has higher magnification, but is a lot harder to focus. Perhaps I will be able to see conidiophores in order to confirm this. EDIT: Photos that I've been able to find of the white coating on Baltic amber looks different from what I'm seeing (a little more uniform?) 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 @doushantuo I heard back from the guy I bought this from. He said it came with a group pieces purchased a number of years ago, most of which were from La Bucara. However, he couldn't be certain that this is where it originated. I still haven't had a chance to put this under higher magnification to see if there are visible conidiophores. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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