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 This
is truly an exceptional amber specimen that at once meets the criteria
that I apply for "Ecosystem Specimens"; Trophy Insect
Inclusions (there are several exceptional insect inclusions); and
"Extremely Rare", in the form of the Assassin bug. Besides
the Assassin bug (Order: Hemiptera), there is a huge, 11 mm Trophy
bee (Order: Hymenoptera) that is magnificently preserved, a fine
planthopper (Order: Homoptera), a wasp (Hymenoptera), some 30 flies
and midges (Order: Diptera) from many families, and a pair of spiders.
Regarding
the Assassin bug, as a Hemipteran (the true bugs), Suborder:
Heteroptera; Family: Reduviidae, it is part of a diverse insect
order that appeared in Upper Pennsylvannian-time. There are some
80,000 extant species. Hemipterans have piercing and sucking mouthparts
that form an articulated beak. The two pair of wings are hardened
near the body, but membranous towards the ends. While most are herbivores,
some are predators, such as bedbugs. An assassin bug in Latin America
is a vector for the protozoan causing sleeping sickness that kills
many people each year. This well-preserved, 5 mm long, Reduviidae,
is also called a resin bug, a name given them due to their habit
of lurking around resin deposits lying in wait for their favorite
prey: stingless bees. The bees come to the resin to gather samples
that are used in construction of their nests. The assassin bugs
often will attach some sticky resin to their forelegs much as a
wide receiver will apply "stickum" to catch a football.
Among insect predators, Assassin bugs rank well with Mantids and
spiders, as the primordial predator and prey dance has persisted
over geologic time.
 The
other pair of predators, the two spiders, inspire extra interest
in that they well may have been lovers, or perhaps they were betrothed.
The
pictures of the bee and a few of the Dipterans speak for themselves.
All in all, this is a specimen to make the amber collector drool,
with a large crosssection of an ancient ecosystem entombed together
in their fossil resin grave.
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