Amber Pendant with Rare Homopteran and Bryophite

Name: Amber Fossil Insects (Homoptera - Family Cercopidae - a spittlebug or froghopper; Diptera)

Age: Pleistocene to Pliocene

Size: mm (25.4mm=1 inch): about 20 mm on each side; 2.1 grams

Location: Andes mountains in Colombia

Code: a124

Price: $65.00 - Sold


This hand-polished and triangular amber would make a diminuative and beautiful pendant. There are two insect inclusions, a spittlebug (see below), rare in amber, and a Dipteran. Rounding out the inclusions is a long strand Bryophyte, one of the world's oldest terrestrial plants -- they have been found in the fossil record as far back as the Devonian period (350 mya).

Spittlebugs, or froghoppers (family: Cercopidae) are small, hopping insects of the order Homoptera. Most feed on plants and shrubs. They leap from plant to plant, seldom flying. Females insert their eggs in plant stems and sometimes cover them with a protective frothy material. In many species the nymphs envelop themselves in a mass of foam (called spittle, frog spit, or cuckoo spit) made by blowing air through a viscid fluid expelled from the anus. The spittle, often conspicuous on grasses, protects the enclosed nymphs from desiccation and probably also predators. Froghoppers are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Homoptera, family Cercopidae.

This is a difficult piece to photograph, but is very beautiful up close.


Stonerelic Purchase

Click pix to enlarge


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