Fossil Amber with RARE INCLUSIONS
Pseudoscorpion with Lymexylonidae melittoma (ship timber beetle)

Very few specimens of amber meet the distinguishing characteristics of this one: extreme clarity; beautiful hand-polish; 1 ½ dozen insects; and 2 Rare inclusions.

The first rare inclusion is a pseudoscorpion, a minute and illusive predator that hunts in the forest litter looking for mites, springtails, and other insects (also see below about pseudoscorpions).

The next rarity is the first of a kind that I have found in many thousands of specimens of amber, and the first that a prominent entomologist that did the ID has seen in amber. Closely resembling a flying termite, and measuring 7 mm in length, this is a rare beetle (Order: Coleoptera) called a ship timber beetle belonging to Family: Lymexylonidae. Also rare but found in amber is Lymexylonidae of genus Atractocerus. Here we have a first likely of genus Melittoma. The insect and its coloration are superbly preserved.

The amber contains another 18 diverse insects from an ancient rainforest. Two beautiful Alates, the sexual, flying form of the termite are adjacent (also see about them below). There are another 9 Coleopterans (beetles) from Family Platypodidae, 3 Dipterans, and an ant and a wasp (Hymenoptera)

The Pseudoscorpion (also called a false scorpion) is a tiny arachnid of Order: Pseudoscorpiones (Chelonethida), is usually less than 4 mm (0.16 of an inch) and normally lives among humus, bark, and soil. There are some 2000 or so species worldwide, though they are rarely seen. They resemble true scorpions but lack the long abdomen and stinger, and are much, much smaller. The pedipalps are modified as pincers, bearing poison glands and thus their sting is not in their tails but in their arms.

Flying termites, or Alates, are the sexual form of termites which swarm from the colony in huge numbers to weakly fly to a new site with the goal of forming another colony, where they soon shed their wings and set up housekeeping. Modern-day termites time the emergence of all colonies in a region to swamp the predators, giving at least a few the opportunity to found new colonies.